An unlikely guy
by King Twig
Summary: Hermione is sent back in time and unwillingly falls in love with her potions professor, but being the father of Draco and the longtime enemy of the Marauders, Lucius may be a bit of a challenge. LMHG and BZGW.
1. Chapter 1

**This story might have a bit of AU because this is _my _fic and therefore will have a few twists that won't agree with the actual books. **

**Disclaimer: This applies to all future chapters, I only own the plot. J.K. Rowling is the brilliant founder of all these wonderful characters. I am simply a fan. **

**Enjoy!**

_Chapter one: _**Meet Sirius Black.**

"Hermione! Where have you been? What's wrong?" said a surprised redhead by the name of Ginny Weasley. She had found her friend in an abandoned classroom in the dungeons, a very unlikely place for Hermione. Hermione snapped her head up, her eyes, bloodshot from salty tears, were wide as saucers, her breath caught in her throat and she tried to speak.

"Goodbye, Ginny" she breathed, her voice cracking with hiccups and sobs. And she was gone.

"What the Hell! Hermione!" said a thunderstruck Ginny, still standing in the doorway.

A whimper escaped her lips and she slid down the doorframe, slumping to the floor. "Hermione" she moaned "I told you not to" then burying her face in her hands she groaned, her world around her seamed to be falling apart.

After Dumbledore's death the walls started to crumble. First Ron died, killed in the hands of Bellatrix. Then the rest of her family followed, one by one they were destroyed. Everyone wants to survive, but none of us realize how painful it would be to keep living when the people that made you want to live are gone. When there is nothing or no one left to live for, to survive is a curse.

Harry, well, he wasn't dead, but the poor boy was slipping closer towards insanity every minute. Watching friends and loved ones die because of him, because he was unable to stop Voldemort, made him feel so useless, which lead to frustration, then to anger, then to depression. Harry was no longer himself, he seemed detached from this world, no longer sharing its pleasures, it pains.

With a defiant sniff, Ginny stood up. She looked long fully at the place where Hermione disappeared, now she was gone, what was there left to live for? No, Ginny would not think that way. She was a Weasley, a stubborn, good-natured Weasley who would not let anyone or anything drag her down…

She sighed and left the classroom, thinking about Hermione's plans. One could only pray that she'd be successful, she was Ginny's last hope, Harry's last hope, the _world's _last hope. Ginny only wished she could join her friend, escape from this world and enter the past where things were only just beginning, where people were happily oblivious of the future and the terror it held.

No one knew about Hermione's plans to save the future, no one but Ginny, who, on late winter nights when one had drunk a bit too much butterbeer, merrily conceived ridiculous plans with Hermione about going back in time and fixing the future. Only Hermione, drunk on grief after loosing her parents to Death-Eaters, took these plans seriously and without a second thought grabbed the altered time-turner and disappeared from the year 1997.

_30 years in the past_

"Oof!" Hermione landed on the hard ground of the dungeon floor, her shaking legs giving out from under her. Afraid to look up just yet, Hermione hid the time-turner carefully in her robs, making sure it was totally secure before standing up again.

Sniffing loudly and rubbing her eyes, Hermione slowly looked up. She was still in the unoccupied classroom, though this one looked slightly more used than the old one. Spotting the door she marched purposefully up to the handle, hesitating for only a moment before thrusting it open.

"OW! FCK!" a male's voice came from around the door.

"Oops! Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" Hermione said, quickly stepping out from the classroom to face her victim. Her mouth spread into a large watery smile and her eyes filled with tears at the sight. Sirius Black. Alive. "Oh my God" she whispered.

He looked at her strangely then, grabbing a girl that Hermione hadn't noticed before by the wrist, he set off down the hallway.

"Come on Angela, let's find somewhere else" he said gruffly, glancing back once to look curiously at Hermione before turning around the corner.

Hermione took a deep steadying breath before following him down the hallway to the Great Hall. She stepped into the large dining area, unnerved by how similar it was to her present time, then went to find herself a seat at the Gryffindor table.

"Um, excuse me, is this seat taken?" she asked timidly. The redhead spun around and Hermione had to, once again, take a deep, calming breath before looking back at the other girl, Lily Evans.

"I don't think I know you, are you new? I'm Lily Evans, Head Girl. And you are?"

"Um…" Hermione mentally smacked herself for not being prepared for this question

"Hermi- uh… Harry!"

"Harry?"

"No, not Harry, um…Harriet, yes, Harriet! Harriet Graaaa…nt." She finished, blushing slightly.

"Ok, Harriet, er, _Graaaaaaant_… I-"

"No, just Grant, sorry"

"Ok, I think you'll need to speak with Professor Dumbledore, he's-"

"LILY LOVE! WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME!"

"Piss off, James!"

Hermione whipped around and came face to face with none other than James Potter, the spitting image of Harry, except for the eyes, of course. Remus was right behind him, rolling his eyes at James with Peter tagging along in the back, curiously looking at Hermione.

Hermione had to gulp down the sudden flare of rage that had sprung up inside of her at the sight of the rat. Glaring for only a brief second at Peter (who took half a step backwards, confusion apparent on each line of his face), she sniffed and turned back towards Lily. "Which one is professor Dumbledore?" she asked, Lily stopped glaring at James and looked back up at Hermione.

"Over there in the middle of the table" she said pointing towards the staff table.

Hermione nodded, already on her way. She stepped up to the staff table and felt half a dozen eyes on her. The headmaster was currently having an animated discussion with professor Flitwick about how to decorate the Great Hall for Halloween.

"I was thinking Albus that if you let some of my 7th year students help me, we could even set up an Wackamone pumpkin. I've read about them in a few books and they seem truly intriguing"

"Of course, that's a splendid idea!" the headmaster replied, excitedly clapping his hands together.

"Excuse me" Hermione said timidly. Dumbledore turned around and smiled at her warmly.

"Yes?"

"I'm, er, new here and um, was wondering what house I'm in…" Hermione stated lamely.

"New? But surely I would've heard of you?" replied Dumbledore curiously "What's your name?"

"Harriet Grant, I'm uh, in a bit of a pickle…" _think Hermione think! _The voices inside her head were yelling furiously at her. Dumbledore leaned forward a tad, indicating for her to continue. "I uh, you see um, I… moved away from home recently because of… family problems, and I didn't have much time to uh, notify you that I would like to attend Hogwarts this year…I have no place to stay, so if there was any room available for me here that would be um… greatly appreciated…" she trailed off at the disapproving look from professor McGonagal who was sitting to the right of the headmaster.

"Can you perform magic?" the headmaster asked, obviously intrigued by this new girl.

"Yes, of course!" said Hermione, taking slight offense to this.

"Then welcome to Hogwarts!" Dumbledore said warmly, opening his arms grandly.

Relief swept through Hermione. She really needed to prepare herself better for these explanations.

"I am afraid, however, that our sorter is currently unavailable, he only speaks to us once a year you see, but I'm sure professor McGonagal and I may find a house suitable for you. You are how old?" Dumbledore asked, McGonagal turned at the sound of her name.

"17" Hermione replied.

"Right then, Minerva, what house do you think this lovely young lady would fit in best?"

McGonagal narrowed her eyes at Hermione, looking her up and down as though scanning every inch of her.

"Hmmm… I would have to say Gryffindor, Albus" she replied.

"Funny, I was thinking Slytherin…" Dumbledore offered. Hermione felt her jaw drop and her eyes widen in disbelief.

"S-Slytherin!"

"Do you have any particular dislike towards this house, Miss Grant?" the headmaster asked her calmly but curiously.

"N-no sir, but the nice girl I met is from Gryffindor I believe, Lily Evans, I would like to be placed with her, if you don't mind" Hermione said quickly to cover up her little slip of the tongue.

"Gryffindor it is then!" he said smiling. Hermione matched the smile, thanked him and joined the Gryffindors.

"You're in Gryffindor then?" Lily asked her.

"Yup!"

"Awesome!"

Hermione turned to her plate and was about to dig in when she heard the familiar voice of Sirius Black.

"Oh man guys, I just had the worst snogging session of my life" he said, slumping down in a seat beside James and Peter, across from Hermione. "First, Angela kept complaining about how she just wasn't in the mood and then when she finally was somebody barged in and interrupted us. She ended up blowing me off, saying how she just didn't feel comfortable doing this behind her boyfriend's back. Honestly, women and their damn conscience."

"Men can be honest too, you know. I mean, look at Remus here, he feels bad if he steals a cookie from the cookie jar!" James said, at this Remus shot him a glare but didn't counter him.

"Yes, but Remus isn't really a man now is he?"

"Hey!" Remus sent a furious glare down at Sirius.

They broke out in laughter and Sirius turned to face his food, spotting Hermione. "Out of the dungeons, I see" she blushed and turned back to her food. "See James, she's the one that interrupted Angela and me"

"Well, you _were _breaking school rules" Hermione said before she could stop herself "you're not allowed to show that kind of affection in the school halls" Sirius gaped at her.

"Hey Remus, I think we finally found you a girl!" he shouted down the table.

"Oh hardy har har" Remus retorted. Sirius turned back to Hermione. "How do you know what the rules are anyways, aren't you new?"

"Well, I _personally_ don't think it's appropriate, truly disgusting, actually" Hermione said, again mentally slapping herself for opening her mouth, but there was no stopping it, she was Hermione, she said these things.

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Have you ever kissed a guy?" he asked.

"What!" she said, looking deeply affronted "I'll have you know that my personal life is none of your business!" she retorted.

"Ah, so you haven't"

"How would you know!"

"So you have?"

"Well I…I…I still don't see how that concerns you!" her face turned the colour of a hot pink Valentine's card as her mouth thinned not unlike the way McGonagall's did when she was angry.

"Here let me show you what it's like" he leaned over the table and kissed her, tongue and all. Her eyes widened in horror and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Pushing him off as though he carried the plague, her face brick red she stood panting, glaring at Sirius.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name" Sirius said, smirking.

"GAAAAAH!" Hermione yelled, grabbing a fistful of mashed potatoes and hitting Sirius full force in the face. "You…despicable…excuse…for a man!" she said between bombardments of mashed potatoes. Sirius quickly stepped back, wiping some of the mashed potatoes off to reveal a stunned face, before jumping on the table, grabbing a fistful of cranberries and shoving it down Hermione's blouse.

"I think she's fitting in well, don't you?" Dumbledore said to McGonagall, eyes twinkling with delight. McGonagall didn't reply.

"AHHHH! You evil, evil man! Sirius, I'm going to kill you! I don't know _how_ Harry deals with you! You are SO immature!" Hermione yelled. Sirius stopped in the midst of stealing James's pumpkin juice. He looked at Hermione oddly as she clapped a hand to her mouth. "Oh poop" she whispered inaudibly.

"Who's Harry?" James asked.

"And how did you know my name?" Sirius added, placing James's pumpkin juice back on the table and looking down at Hermione.

"Uh… did I say Harry? I meant Lily. She told me your name" she replied lamely, gulping and noticing for the first time that many people had turned to watch the fight.

When nobody replied, Hermione spoke up again. "You know what, I really need to go to the bathroom…" and she ran out.

Slowly Sirius came down from the table, then looking at Lily he asked: "Did you tell her who I was?" Lily, looking just as confused as Sirius, shook her head.

"Hmm… interesting" he said.

"Nice kiss by the way" James said lightly, turning back to his meal.

Sirius smiled, "It wasn't bad…"

**Yay! Chapter 1! I'm so proud! I promise the chapters will become more interesting as we go along, tomorrow is the first day of classes which promises to be exciting! Well, you know what to do! Hit that little button on the bottom of the screen and send me a review! Constructive criticism is accepted, but I don't want anybody bad-mouthing me and my story for no apparent reason. It is rather depressing. Tootles:) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two's up! Yay! Before we start I wanna say thanks to my wonderful reviewers! This is my first fic and I'm really excited! I'm glad that at least some people like it. **

**In answer to one of your questions, yes this is a LMHG fic, that is what I said in the summary and that's what I'm going to do, just be patient! I hope it's a bit more obvious in this chapter!**

**Enjoy! **

_Chapter 2: _**A stroll in the forest**

Hermione awoke the next day in her bed up in Gryffindor tower. After stretching out her stiff limbs, she slowly got up, yawning grandly and rubbing her eyes.

After getting changed she walked over to the door, passing occupied beds where girls were still soundly sleeping, after all, it was only 6:00 in the morning, most didn't get up until 8:00.

As Hermione made her way to the door she couldn't help but feel she was forgetting something, turning the handle and opening the door swiftly, she was met with an unexpected face that brought her crashing back into reality.

"AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed, slamming the door again, cutting out the smiling face of Sirius Black.

"W-what happened?" yawned a tired girl, pocking her head out from around the curtains of her bed.

"Harriet, what are you doing up at this hour?" Lily asked her.

Hermione slid down the door, panting. Right. She was in the past, _Heeelloooo _Hermione, wake up! She stood back up and opened the door again, Sirius was still waiting.

"What do you want?" she said, glaring at him.

"I think we may have started off on the wrong foot" he said "Sirius Black, Gryffindor sex-God" he stuck his hand out. Rolling her eyes Hermione tried to push past him, but he blocked her. "Hey! Not so fast! I'm standing on your doorframe here!" Hermione looked down and saw that indeed he was standing a few inches above the slide that had formed.

"How did you get up here? And how did you know I would be awake?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"I figured you for a morning person" he said, smiling mischievously. Hermione raised a slender eyebrow and gave him a rough push in the chest, watching with delight as his eyes widened in surprise and he fell off balance onto the slide.

"OW! Merlin, woman! What are you trying to do, kill me? All I wanted to say was good-morning!" Sirius yelled from the bottom.

Hermione gracefully slid down to meet him, dusting invisible lint off her uniform she said: "Good-morning" and brushed by him, heading towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

She sat down beside Remus, the only one at the Gryffindor table this early in the morning, who had his nose buried deep in a book. At the sight of Hermione he smiled, pushing his book aside quickly to keep her from reading the title.

"What's that?" she asked, indicating the book Remus was currently shoving into his bag.

"Uh… nothing, just been doing some research for a school project" Remus said uncomfortably and Hermione didn't pursue the topic. "So, you're Harriet Grant?" he asked. She nodded, "I'm Remus Lupin".

"Oi! There he is!" yelled a messy-haired boy from the entrance to the Great Hall "and I think he's trying to steel your girlfriend, Padfoot! Ow!" James was silenced by Sirius's sharp jab of the elbow in the ribs and Remus's roll of the eyes.

As they sat down at the table Hermione couldn't help but notice; "You're up early" she said.

"All the more time to plan pranks against the Slytherins" James said, winking.

"Where's Pe- you're friend, the blond boy?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, Peter? Chatting up some Hufflepuff I think…" said James, frowning slightly "You know what? As crazy as it is, I think he gets more action than either Sirius _or_ me"

Hermione pulled a disgusted face and turned back to James. "What's your name?"

"James Potter, I know who you are, of course" he said nudging Sirius a tad.

Hermione blushed and turned back to her food, but unfortunately the scrambled eggs had lost their appeal.

"I think I need to go to the library" she said.

"I'll escort you!" Sirius offered, standing up.

"That's ok, I know where it is, thanks" she said before walking briskly off towards the library.

"How can she know where it is? She's only been here for a few hours" Sirius commented, looking slightly disappointed.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Hermione sat down in the library, breathing freely for the first time that morning, she truly did feel at home here…

"AAH!" she yelped as her chair gave out from under her. Tears of frustration in her eyes she turned around to glare at the group of 5th year Slytherins hiding behind the bookshelf.

_Fine_. She decided. _I'll go somewhere else. _

Hermione decided to wait in class, they would start in half an hour anyways and she didn't want to be late.

Consulting her new timetable that McGonagall had given to her last night, Hermione headed towards Potions.

Unfortunately, with the forces of fate acting against her, (Hermione was held up by Peeves, tormented by a few more Slytherins, asked to speak with McGonagall before classes and a few moving staircases) she arrived in class just as the bell rung.

The teacher looked up and for the first time in her life Hermione felt a strange jolt somewhere in her middle stomach area. A tall man with long blond hair and icy grey eyes was staring back at her, never had Hermione met someone who did this to her, never.

"You're late, 10 points from Gryffindor" he said shortly. The Gryffindors protested and the Slytherins snickered from the other side of the classroom. The odd feeling that had taken over Hermione quickly vanished as she closed her mouth defiantly and glared daggers into the teacher's head. She saw Snape snickering softly in the corner; _so that's where he gets it from…_ she thought to herself.

Looking for an empty seat she slumped into the only one, conveniently next to Sirius.

He opened his mouth to say something but Hermione quickly cut him off with a glare and turned towards the teacher.

"So, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted, many of you may recognize me from previous years" at this, half of the room (the Gryffindors) intensified their glares and mumbled a few things to their neighbors. "But now that I am your teacher, I will not be expecting any irrational behavior in my class" a few rolled their eyes but let him continue. "I am replacing Mr. Smigg who has been teaching you for many years and has finally been forced into early retirement by" his gaze hovered over the Marauders "certain _select _students" Sirius smirked. "My name, for those who may not know me, is Professor Lucius Malfoy, I- "

"WHAT?" yelled Hermione, who had just been woken up rather painfully from her daydreams involving a certain blond teacher. He looked at her coldly and she cowered slightly, silently disgusted at herself for daydreaming during class.

"Is there a problem?" he drawled. Hermione cringed as she noticed for the first time how much he was like his son, arrogant, rude, egoistic and unfortunately drop-dead sexy. Ugh.

"No, _sir_" she said, fuming slightly with a face as red as the setting sun. He looked at her oddly for a moment or two, then continued.

"Good. Now, as I was saying…"

The class went on for another hour and a half before they were dismissed.

"Why did it have to be him?" Peter asked, joining the rather unhappy group of Marauders.

"I don't know, Pete, but I think I am right in saying that it is our duty to make his stay at Hogwarts as painful as possible" said Sirius, smiling widely over at James.

"Most definitely" James replied.

"Now come on, guys, just because he was rotten to us in the past doesn't mean we have to jeopardize his career!" Remus said. Sirius and James looked at him funny.

"I'm afraid I don't understand your logic, Moony" Sirius said after a long pause.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Later that night, the Marauders were huddled together at a little table in the far corner of the Gryffindor common room. Anybody who knew the Marauders knew that this wasn't a time to disturb them. Hermione, however, who did _not _know the Marauders (or at least not at this age), was efficiently peeved by the fact that they had annexed her usual homework table to march over and demand for them to move.

"Excuse me" she said once she had reached the table "_this _is my homework table" she said matter-of-factly. But none of the boys seemed to have heard her. She was just about to try again when she heard Peter speak.

"Guys, don't you think this is a little dangerous?" he asked.

"Oh come on Pete, where's your sense of adventure? He deserves this, after all; remember when he made you run around the school, spanking the bottoms of every girl you passed?" James replied defiantly. Peter blushed furiously and an odd glint of revenge appeared in his eyes.

"I agree with Peter though, James, this is ridiculous, I mean, how would you feel if you had woken up in the Forbidden Forest, of all places, with no clue of how you got there?"

"Yes, but you're forgetting something, Moony, I'm not the one that's gonna be out there, Malfoy is!" James retorted with a smirk. Remus rolled his eyes.

"You guys could get into a lot of trouble for this, you know"

"Oh come on, Remus, stop being such a wet blanket!" Sirius said.

Hermione slowly stepped back from the group. Her mind reeling from all this information, screaming at her all the rules that these four boys were about to break. Not knowing how to stop them however, Hermione decided to wait and see what they did.

The next morning the Marauders were cheerier than usual, if that was possible. They smiled knowingly at each other and anybody who recognized these signs prayed that they weren't the ones about to be pranked.

The classes passed without too much excitement. Hermione managed to pass Lily in charms and transfiguration, something that made the redhead a little green with jealousy. When the evening came and still the Marauders hadn't done anything, Hermione began to relax a little. That was before she heard them chatting discreetly again, only a few seats down from where she sat talking animatedly with her newfound friends from her dormitory.

"Come on, Remus, _please_? They'll never suspect you!" James pleaded.

"Yeah, you're the only one of us who still has a clean record!" Sirius offered.

"And how I've managed to keep it so clean after years of hanging out with you people remains a mystery to me" Remus replied dully then: "wait, how was Peter's record tarnished?"

"He had some trouble explaining why he was putting crap-smelling fudge all over the toilet seat in prefects' bathroom, remember?" James said.

"Oh yeah…"

"It was just a small April Fool's joke" Peter shrugged "much less than what you two have gotten in trouble for" he said, indicating Sirius and James who both smiled.

"Anyways, that's why you've got to do it, Remus" Sirius said.

"What am I going to say to him?"

"Just ask about homework or something" James suggested. Remus sighed.

"The things I do for you people" he said, slowly standing up. He made his way up to the staff table then stopped in front Malfoy who looked up at him icily.

"Yes?" he drawled. Hermione watched from the Gryffindor table, noticing how well the Marauders seemed to be paying no attention at all to what was happening up at the staff table. Remus shoved a piece of paper under his nose, blocking his drink from view.

"I have some questions about the homework, sir" Malfoy gave a short hollow laugh.

"You, Lupin, have questions about homework as easy as this? Somehow I find that hard to believe" a faint pink tinge appeared in Remus's cheeks, but never the less he continued.

"Yes, sir…" and as he began to explain his problems with the homework, he uncapped a vial and emptied its contents into Malfoy's cup with surprising stealth.

"What do you mean? I never mentioned the boomslang skin" Malfoy said, shoving, the paper out of his face.

"You didn't? Oh, my mistake then" Remus smiled pleasantly, placing the vial back into his pocket and walking back to the Gryffindor table, feeling Malfoy's glare follow him the whole way.

"Did you do it?" Peter asked with awe.

"Yup, all done" Remus said, James and Sirius grinned at him.

"See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?" Sirius asked. Remus made a face but didn't respond.

"Now we just wait for him to leave the table… ah yes, there he goes now" James said. The Marauders (and Hermione) whipped around in time to see Malfoy racing from the hall looking like he was about to be sick.

"Gentlemen, the prank begins!" Sirius said standing up. The others followed him, Hermione trailed behind, just out of view.

_Hermione, sit down, you don't want to get in trouble do you? _ Her insides screamed at her.

**No, but I just want to see what they're up to. **She reasoned with herself.

_Hermione… I think you like him_

**Who!**

_You know…_

**No, I don't, who!**

_That Lucius fellow_

Hermione's eyes widened in horror

**I do not! **

_But why else would you be following them?_

**To make sure they don't do anything bad! **She replied defiantly

_I think you're forgetting why you're really here, Hermione._

**What do you mean?**

_You're supposed to be saving the future, Ginny is waiting for you, have you made any plans at all on how you're supposed to do this?_

Hermione realized with a horribly guilty feeling that she had indeed not planned anything at all, how very unHermionish.

**I'll do it tonight, as soon as I find out what they're going to do.**

_Whatever, just remember, the future depends on you, don't disappoint your friends. _

Hermione pushed the voice to the back of her head and continued to follow the four boys. They turned down an abandoned hallway and stopped by the unconscious body of Malfoy who appeared to be in a deep sleep.

Hermione hid behind a suit of armor and watched.

"Alright, let's get him out of here" James said and, while Peter sent nervous glances down the hallway, they levitated him off of the ground.

"Sirius, Peter, you know what to do" James said.

"Right, alibi" Sirius said, setting off towards the Great Hall.

"Can't I come too?" Peter pleaded.

"No Pete, we need you to help Sirius" James said.

"Why can't I do that?" Remus asked.

"Merlin, we are _not _having this discussion now" James said furiously. "Go Peter!" he yelled at the boy who jumped slightly and follow Sirius quickly out of the hallway.

"You, know, you really should lay off him a bit" Remus commented, James shrugged.

"Let's get out of here"

With one last glance down the hallway, the two set off, a floating potions professor following closely behind.

Hermione quietly followed them outside into the Forbidden Forest.

"Alright, let's leave him here" James said.

"You know, I'm still not sure about this" Remus said, glancing nervously around at the dark forest.

James groaned "I knew I should've brought Sirius"

"Why didn't you?"

"Come on, Remus, would anybody have believed we hadn't done it if nobody saw Sirius _or _me after supper?"

"I guess not…"

"Good, now come help me with the final touches"

"Ugh. Fine. But this is disgusting" James smirked and together they began to put illusion charms on the teacher's clothes, leaving him looking like he was dressed in nothing but his boxers. Hermione's eyes widened in horror (and something else that she was too ashamed to admit).

"Alright, let's go!" James said.

"Uh, I don't think so!" Hermione said, stepping out from the bushes.

"F&K!" James yelled clutching his heart. Hermione smirked. After a few seconds to recover from his shock James glared at her "who died and made you McGonagal?" he asked venomously. Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"You have to admit, though, it is a bit strange having a new girl follow you around telling you what to do" Remus said with a tinge of amusement in his voice.

Hermione thought about this and realized it must seem a little odd. Sometimes you forget how much you're supposed to know someone.

"Sorry" she said "It's just that sometimes I feel like I know you guys so well, you remind me of friends from my old school, I used to chide them off for doing crazy things, too"

Remus nodded "But I think if we were on a friend's basis, this may seem less strange" he stuck out his hand "friends?" Hermione shook it, smiling.

"Well, now that we've got that cleared up, I think we should be heading back to the castle" James said, clapping his hands together.

"No, I don't think so, release him" Hermione said.

"No, that wouldn't work…" said James "He'd get us expelled in 5 seconds flat"

"Fine, whatever, I'm going back" Hermione said, but James grabbed her wrist.

"No, that won't work either, see, because the first thing you're going to do is run to McGonagall" Hermione fumed. How did he know?

"So, Mr. Potter, what's your brilliant plan then?" she said, putting her hands on her hips.

"We leave you here"

"What!" Remus and Hermione yelled at the same time.

"James, I think this is going a little too far…" Remus said.

"Heck ya!" Hermione nodded.

"Think, Remus, if we bring her, she'll tell McGonagall right away and McGonagall will see us come in and know that she was telling the truth, landing us in a month's worth of detentions plus a dirty mark on your record" Remus cringed at this. "If we leave her we'll be back before she'll have a chance to tell McGonagall, meaning that we have our alibi to back us up"

Remus processed this information carefully. "How do we make sure she stays here?"

"We chain her to him" James said matter-of-factly, indicating the ex-Slytherin.

"What? No I don't think so" Hermione said, crossing her arms.

"Come on, Remus" James said, ignoring Hermione.

Remus sighed. "You have to promise, however, not to follow through with the last part of the plan"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Getting everybody outside to greet you as you try to come in unnoticed" Remus replied, Hermione's mouth fell open.

"But Remus, that was the best part of the prank!" James pleaded.

"Well, this prank hasn't gone completely according to plan, now has it, Prongs?"

"No, I guess not"

"Good, now, Harriet, if you could just stand here-"

"No bloody way!" she yelled, making a break for the castle, but James was faster and soon the young disgruntled Gryffindor was sitting beside Lucius with a long golden chain binding the two by the wrists.

"Good night!" James yelled pleasantly over his shoulder as the two boys retreated.

"Sorry Harriet, we had no choice" Remus added, looking deeply apologetic.

"Lupin, Potter, I'm going to murder you when I get back!" she yelled, spit flying from her lips.

_Great Hermione, just splendid. Now what!_

**Oh, shut up, will you?**

_Swearing, now are we?_

…

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, please R&R to keep the updates coming! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay! Chapter 3! Alright, now we go back to Ginny, because I do have to fit her in here somewhere with her little relationship. Hermione and Lucius will come back in soon, I promise!**

**A great big hug goes out to all my reviewers, you guys are awesome! Don't worry, I don't plan to have this story turned all angsty, personally I like to laugh when I read, it makes me happy:) **

_Chapter 3: _**Ice breaker**

_30 years in the future, a.k.a. the Present_

Ginny wandered aimlessly around the Hogwarts grounds, wondering how her friend was making out in the past. She was already starting to see some effects. Nothing big, but for some strange reason she noticed that Draco Malfoy's smirk was becoming less prominent… perhaps he was just going through rough times with the Death Eaters… Merlin knows why he was still attending school, perhaps Voldemort wanted to keep a spy at Hogwarts now that Snape was gone.

She paused by a tree she used to sit under with Harry, Ron and Hermione. At the thought of Ron, Ginny's eyes began to water.

"What am I still doing here?" she wondered out loud "I should be out there with Harry, helping! Fighting!" the tears she had been stubbornly holding in for so long finally poured out and Ginny, shivering in the cold autumn fog, fell down on her bum, putting her head on her knees in defeat and silently wept out her pains.

"What are you doing out here, Weasley?" no response. "Hey? Anybody home?" Ginny felt a hand shake her shoulder roughly and looked up only to glare at none other than Blaise Zabini who smirked and sat down beside her.

"I don't remember inviting you to sit beside me" she said bitterly. She furiously wiped the tears from her eyes and Blaise pretended not to notice.

"Do I need an invitation?" he asked. She sighed and turned her gaze back to the lake.

"What do you want?" Blaise furrowed his brow.

"Good question. A lot of things, I guess, but at this very moment? I think I could go with a coffee, I didn't sleep much last night" Ginny snorted.

"Death Eater meeting run late?"

"Oh, very funny" Blaise said, trying to look nonchalant about it but for some reason Ginny noticed that he seemed slightly hurt by this comment.

"What are doing talking to me, Zabini, I thought we were enemies, what's with this sudden change of heart?"

"Enemies? Since when?"

"Since you were sorted into Slytherin"

"Hmm"

"You're not answering my question. What do you want?"

"Nothing, just bored I guess"

"And pestering Gryffindors is a way to pass the time, is it?" Ginny sniffed.

"Any house works, actually, you're just lucky I chose you"

"I'm honoured" Ginny said, but with less venom than earlier. She hated to admit it, but this argument (or could it really be called that?) was cheering her up slightly. It was good to see that some things remained the same throughout all this chaos; no matter what, Gryffindors and Slytherins would always be enemies.

Blaise smiled "Well, if you ever need me I'll be inside, eating dinner like a normal person" he said, standing up. Ginny suddenly realized she hadn't eaten for two days and her stomach gave long low growl of protest. Blaise raised an eyebrow and offered her a hand. "Hungry?" Ginny scowled and stood up without his help. He smirked and put his hand back in his pocket, making his way back to the castle. Slowly, Ginny followed him.

Who knew that an arrogant Slytherin would be the one to wake her up from her misery?

_30 years in the past_

Hermione hadn't been able to sleep the whole night. Not only was she stuck in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, but she was also chained to a very hot Potions professor who currently looked like he was dressed in only his boxers, giving off the appearance of a Greek God and a very sexy one at that…

"GAAAAAHHHH! I'm going insane!" Hermione screamed when she realized what she was thinking about "Once I get my hands on James and Remus I am going strangle them! With a toaster wire! And then I'm going to eat them! No, first I'm going to marinate them in honey sauce then barbecue them and then dice them and then-" Hermione stopped in mid-sentence at the sound of a long low groan coming from the Potions professor.

She watched as he slowly opened his eyes, yawning widely, then as his curious glance at his surroundings quickly turned into one of panic Hermione spoke up.

"Um, sir, please don't be alarmed, see, I'll explain everything" Lucius whipped around to face Hermione, his eyes widened in outrage and noticing her blush when he sat up, he quickly looked down. He felt his robes, but he couldn't see them… in fact, all he could see was…

"GAAAAHHH!" he yelped, jumping up. Unfortunately for him, Hermione was sitting too far for him to stand up properly and with a jolt he was yanked back down by the chain. "Bloody Merlin! Who are you? Where am I? Why am I … why are we… like _this_?" he demanded indicating the chain.

"Um, well, it's a funny story actually…" Hermione began, then furrowed her brow "actually, it's not funny at all. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter did this" she said. Lucius's nostrils flared as he took a deep calming breath, looking a tad like a crazed hippogriff.

"I'll _kill _them!" he breathed.

"To answer your questions" Hermione continued quickly "I'm Harriet Grant, your student, you're in the Forbidden Forest and we are like this because James didn't want to have me telling Professor McGonagall about your predicament" Hermione finished. Lucius, who was trying to compose himself so that he may be more Malfoyish lost it again at the sound of the Forbidden Forest.

"W-where!" he gulped and looked around.

"Don't worry, we're not too far in…" the teacher turned back to Hermione.

"Why didn't you take this bloody chain off?" he asked, his face reddening in rage.

"I tried! It's some form of complex magic I couldn't figure out. Either that or James did the spell wrong and it ended up turning permanent…" Lucius's eyes widened in horror and he quickly lifted the chain up to his eyes so that he could examine it properly. "Um, sir? I think we should start heading back now…" Hermione suggested timidly.

"Are you crazy! I'm not going back like…like… _this!_" he said, acting as though Hermione had just proposed they jump into a volcano with lava crocodiles (AN: ya ya, whatever, lava crocodiles, you know, the ones that live in lava…) in other words, he was not impressed with her suggestion.

"Where's your wand?"

"They took it" he replied venomously after checking his pockets.

"Ok, I'll get mine…" she pulled hers out and began saying the counter-curse to the illusion charm when:

"Excuse me, I don't believe humans aren't allowed here. Are you friends of Hagrid?" someone, or rather, _something _asked from behind Lucius. Hermione looked up as Lucius whipped around to see, despite the rather polite words, a centaur standing ominously over them with a quivering arrow at the ready.

"AHHHH!" a rather girly scream erupted from Lucius's lips as he scrambled to get up, only tripping on the chain and falling on top of Hermione. For a split second Hermione was able to gaze into those beautiful icy grey eyes closer than she could've ever hoped for before Lucius quickly pushed himself off and cowered behind her. Turning towards the centaur, Hermione thought about what he had said.

"Hagrid?" she asked, then remembered that the half-giant had indeed been here long before the Marauders, she had totally forgotten! "I mean, yes, of course we're friends, he sent us here to collect uh…"

"Dawn-picked trilliums" Lucius offered in a quivering voice and Hermione was suddenly reminded of a young Draco in the Forbidden Forest during their first year. Laughing inwardly, she turned back to the centaur that had still not lowered his weapon. "They, uh, need to be picked right at dawn" Lucius explained unnecessarily. The centaur slowly lowered his bow and arrow.

"Hmm" he pondered solemnly "I see dark times ahead, for both of you. However, one of you seems to be already aware of the hard suffereings" he said, masking his curiosity as he looked at Hermione. Lucius gave her an odd look.

"Um, right, well, we'd better be going now that we've found what we… what we need" Hermione blurted out, picking a random flower and pocketing it. The centaur nodded soberly, but Hermione was amused to see that even he was having trouble masking his curiosity concerning the state of the professor's clothes.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Lucius let out a sigh of relief, than quickly composed himself once again. "I believe you were about to perform the counter-curse to my current… _condition_" he reminded Hermione.

"Oh, yes" she said, blushing when she remembered that her professor was indeed still in his undergarments. Quickly muttering the incantation, she sighed inaudibly as his teaching robes reappeared.

Lucius looked slightly strangled. He gave a curt nod and hurried on slightly past her.

"You're welcome" Hermione mumbled to herself.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Lucius stopped abruptly once they had reached the edge of the forest, Hermione, who had been currently looking down trying to avoid tripping on the chain, walked into him from behind and sent them both to the ground in a heap.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry sir!" Hermione apologized quickly in her awkward position, straddling the professor's back.

"Gerroff meh!" came Lucius's muffled reply, his face being forced rather uncomfortably into the dirt.

"What? Oh, right, sorry" Hermione blushed crimson and made to stand up. Unfortunately fate had other plans. A low sound of pain came from Lucius as Hermione came tumbling back down on him. The damn chain was stuck… somehow… underneath Lucius.

"Oh poop" she muttered. Blushing fiercer than she ever had in her life, Hermione found herself sprawled on Lucius's back. "James! I'm going to kill you!" she practically growled.

_Well, isn't this just splendid._

**Oh no, not you again. **Hermione thought, while trying fiercely to untangle the chain, a few groans of pain, curses and demands of getting off his body coming from Lucius.

_What do you do to get yourself into these situations, Hermione?_

**What! I didn't do this on purpose!**

_Sure you didn't…you just _happened _to accidentally straddle him, in all his sexy glory, out by the edge of the forest where no one can see you and it just so happens you can't get up, resulting in you being continuously _thrusted_ into his lower back – _

**STOP! You are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo gross! **Hermione said making a face.

_Oh come on, don't tell me nothing like that is going through you're mind right now…_

**GAAAAHHHHH! I am going to _murder _you! **Hermione vaguely realized how stupid it was to send death threats to her mind, so she pushed it aside and concentrated on the situation at hand.

"Professor, if you could just-"

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything here" a smooth voice said from in front of her. Hermione looked up and saw the smirking face of James, the other marauders flanking his sides.

"YOU!" she screeched, lunging at him like a rabid dragon. It turns out this wasn't one of the best planned moves Hermione had ever made. Instead of straddling Lucius's back, she was now over his head, her hand was, well, in an uncomfortable position to say the least.

"Wha fe bloody ell are ou doin!" came the muffled voice of the professor from somewhere in between Hermione's thighs. He vainly struggled to get up, looking like a dying penguin uselessly flopping around on the ground under Hermione. Hermione looked down and with a sickening feeling realized what she was doing. This just wasn't her day.

Turning a glowing red face at James, she narrowed her eyes and watched him nearly split his sides with laughter, clinging onto Sirius for support who was also roaring with laughter. Peter was giggling and Remus, although feeling immensely sorry for Hermione, couldn't help let slip a few snorts himself. Growling with bubbling rage, Hermione wrenched her hand up with all the force she could muster, flipping Lucius face up so that he was now staring up her uniform skirt…

"GAH!" he yelled, quickly shielding his eyes. Hermione only vaguely noticed this as she slowly, almost catlike, advanced on James, who was still laughing hysterically.

"You have just made a powerful enemy my friend. Beware, for I shall have my revenge." She said deadly serious, her face livid with rage. As Lucius had just managed to stand up he found himself pulled down yet again as Hermione lunged for James.

"Enough!" he yelled. He stood up abruptly, found his manly strength and pulled the rage driven Hermione off of James. He grabbed her from behind and held her tightly against his own body as she continued vainly to reach James. "Miss Grant! Would you _please _cease this childish behavior!" he yelled into her ear. She stopped suddenly and looked down at the strong arm holding her around her waist, then felt his well-toned abs flex against her back. Blushing fiercely she cleared her throat and looked away.

"Sorry sir" she muttered. Lucius rolled his eyes and let go of her waist. Hermione let herself drop to the ground at his feet, groaning in humiliation. How could she be so childish? In front of _him_ no less! Ugh. Life was against her.

"Alright. Now Potter, before you decide to inconspicuously disappear, get this infuriating chain off of me this instant" he commanded, thrusting the chain at James.

"Um…" James took the chain and prodded it with his wand a few times looking doubtful.

"What?"

"Well, uh… you see sir…"

"Wait, James, is that a…" Remus trailed off, examining the chain, Sirius and Peter leaned in closer to get a better look.

"Uh… maybe…I guess it would make sense…"

"Merlin James! Please tell me you didn't! Why would you! _How _would you!" Remus exclaimed suddenly.

"Would what?" Lucius demanded.

"Wow, cool! That's amazing Prongs! I've been working on that charm for years!" Sirius said deeply impressed, playing with the chain in-between his fingers and completely ignoring Lucius.

"What's amazing?" Hermione said, yanking the chain back and looking at it herself.

Peter himself finally noticed whatever they were talking about and looked at the chain in awe.

"Wow, James. How did you do it?" he asked, eyes wide "does it work?".

"Er, well, I'm not sure"

"Try it, say something!" Sirius said with excitement.

"No, James, this has gone too fa-" Remus started.

"Ok!" James turned to face Hermione and the potions professor "Jump" he commanded.

Hermione and Lucius were forced to swallow whatever reply they were going to make to James's degrading command when they felt a weird tingling in their feet and before they knew it they had both leapt up into the air simultaneously, gracefully landing back onto the grass.

As the 3 marauder's eyes widened in excitement (Remus's narrowed in disapproval), Hermione's and the professor's eyes widened in horror.

"What is this!" Hermione demanded, jiggling the chain. James and Sirius grinned mischievously.

"Well, you see, Harriet, when I was casting the spell, I guess I accidentally swished my wand the wrong way…" James started, looking back at Remus for confirmation.

"You did a left side wave-flick-clockwise twirl-sharp lunge, instead of the left side wave-flick-_counter _clockwise twirl-sharp lunge. I don't know _how _you managed do to it but-" Remus began to explain before James interrupted him.

"Ok, ok Mooney, whatever. Anyways, my point is that I conjured a conligatis fatalos-"

"Fatalis"

"Right, a conligatis fatalis chain instead of an adnexus or whatever it's called…"

"Which means-" Sirius said, wanting to get to the exciting part.

"That you have to do-"

"whatever"

"And we _mean _whatever-"

"We say." Sirius finished, both boys were grinning brilliantly. Remus looked confused.

"I don't get it though, _how _could you have done it? It's a very particular spell…"

"Well, maybe James just has a natural talent of making conligy fatlies or whatever they're called" Sirius said, giving his friend a hearty slap on the back.

"But you don't get it, it's not just the castor, it's also the _casties _that need to be-"

"Whatever Mooney, we don't need to get all technical about it. Let's have some fun!" Sirius exclaimed, turning back to Hermione and Lucius. Remus huffed and crossed his arms.

"Black, I am a _teacher_, not some sort of entertainment device. You forget that am no longer an annoying Slytherin that you attend classes with. Release us now or I shall have you expelled, and if not expelled I will torture you in the most painful way possible. I have a few methods I've recently discovered that would be fun to test…" Lucius suggested, calmly dusting invisible lint off his robes. It was Peter's turn to speak up.

"Teachers aren't allowed to hurt students" he stated bravely. Lucius looked down at the small boy. He bent over so that their noses were almost touching and whispered dangerously.

"Oh, but I have ways, Pettigrew, I have _always _had ways." Peter gulped.

"Creep" Sirius said, pulling Peter back from him. Remus rolled his eyes.

"James, come on, get this bloody chain off us" Hermione whined.

"Um… no" James said. Hermione's mouth fell open in outrage.

"Fine." Lucius said with an air of finality. He turned to go up to the castle, "We'll see how professor Dumbledore takes all of this".

"You and Harriet will _not _tell anybody, including Dumbledore, about your current dilemma" James commanded. Lucius stopped dead and, looking slightly strangled, turned back to James.

"Right. Well you could at least give me my wand back"

"Ha. Ya right-" Sirius started.

"Guys, come on, we're already in deep trouble here, just give the guy his wand and we can head back to the castle and have breakfast" Remus said, Peter nodded fervently at the sound of breakfast.

"Fine" James threw the wand at Lucius and the four walked away towards the castle.

"Great. Bloody brilliant. Now what!" Hermione demanded, hands on her hips. The teacher sighed and tapped the chain with his wand, making it invisible.

"At least this way we won't have to try explaining it, which our lovely friend Potter has made quite impossible."

"Right. I guess I should go to the library, try to find the counter-curse…" suddenly Hermione's eyes widened in horror "Wait, my classes! How am I supposed to attend my classes!"

"A very good question, one that can be replied with a very simple answer; you can't" Lucius said simply. He started walking back up to the castle, leaving Hermione standing alone, opening and closing her mouth furiously like a fish out of water until she was forced to follow him.

**Well, I hoped you enjoyed that chapter, I had fun writing it! I think I'll go to bed now though… the next chapter will hopefully be completed very soon. Now you know what you must do, click on that little button and send me a review! **

**Tootles:) **


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPER FOUR! YAY! Wow, I'm so impressed, all my other stories tend to die after the first chapter… heheh! Anyways, hope you people all enjoy this chapter! **

_Chapter 4: _**Crazy 8's **

_The present_

Blaise was walking back from the potions classroom when he noticed Draco Malfoy walking towards him. He grimaced slightly and turned his gaze somewhere else. Every time he saw him his insides squirmed with an uneasy dislike. It wasn't just hate, it was a mix of distrust and a weird insecurity he felt around him too; like he wasn't safe when he was near, one could never trust a turncoat. Yes, that's what Blaise thought of him; a turncoat.

He had betrayed him; their previous friendship had been destroyed when Draco had joined the Dark side. Blaise believed firmly against Lord Voldemort and his supporters, he and Draco had often discussed it and he knew, or he thought he knew, that Draco agreed with him. But as their 5th year finished, Blaise started to notice some changes in his friend. He became more distant than before and even more reserved. When the big news came of his assignment to kill Dumbledore, they had a long painful row, neither of them walking away with the feeling that they had won.

The next year they ignored each other completely. It had been working pretty well, except Blaise had become incredibly lonely. The Slytherin girls only offered so much pleasure; they were all flakes and provided little intelligent conversation.

So, Blaise found it hard masking his curiosity as Draco walked up to him, determination in his eyes.

"Zabini" he said.

"Malfoy" Blaise replied in the same blunt tone.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean? I'm walking, that's not against the law now is it?" Blaise replied icily. Draco glared and chose to ignore that.

"I saw you with that Weasley"

"Oh, Merlin, I can't believe this. Why should you care?"

"Because, Zabini, she's a Weasley" Draco said as if stating the obvious.

"So?"

"You were my best friend. You know things about me. The weaslette works for the Order"

"So what, you think I'm going let slip some of your dark secrets?" Blaise said sarcastically. Draco didn't answer. A long silence passed before Blaise spoke up again. "Why did you do it?" he asked, changing his demeanor entirely.

Draco's expression turned to one of sorrow, then guilt then anger "do you think I had a choice?" he whispered hoarsely, glancing around to make sure no one was close by.

"You _always _have a choice"

"Blaise, it was a do or die situation!" Draco yelled, eyes wide as if begging for Blaise to understand him.

"I would _never _have done joined them, and I thought that you agreed with me, obviously I was wrong. We were friends and you lied to me." Blaise said, hurt and anger visible in his light blue eyes.

"You were never my friend Zabini, a true friend would've supported me"

"How can I support you when this is the decision you've made!" Blaise asked angrily. Draco's face became strained. He gave Blaise a last look before walking away swiftly. Over his shoulder he yelled back to Blaise.

"If that weaslette finds out anything she gone, you hear me? Finito!" Blaise gulped down a strange feeling of worry and glared daggers into the back of his ex-friend. Angered by his Draco and disturbed by some of the words he said _"Do you think I had a choice?"_ Of course he did, Blaise told himself, everybody has a choice. Distressed and in need of comfort Blaise went to the one person he could think of, Ginny. Damn. Why her? He asked himself bitterly. Because you're a loner, he answered himself.

Several minutes later he found Ginny sitting alone in the library, pouring over her homework. Odd, he thought, that was usually Granger's job… but now that he thought of it, he hadn't seen the beaver lately. Hmmmm…. Granger miss school? Interesting… definitely fishy.

He plopped down beside the Gryffindor, sighing deeply and notifying her of his presence. When she didn't make any sign that she had noticed him, he sighed again, more loudly this time. No reaction. Finally he stood up and pushed her books away from her, letting out one last dramatic sigh.

"Zabini" Ginny acknowledged as she tried to take back her homework.

"Weasley. Aren't you going to ask me what's wrong?" Blaise said, pushing her homework out of her reach.

"No" Ginny said, leaning back into her chair in defeat and looking at him. If looks could kill, Blaise would've been long dead.

"Fine." Blaise rolled his eyes and sat back down, Ginny grabbed her homework back. "Why the sudden enthusiasm for homework?"

"It takes my mind off things" Ginny said. When she didn't continue, Blaise decided not to pursue it. Instead, he took out a deck of cards.

"Wanna play?" he asked, shuffling them expertly. Ginny looked up then slowly closed her books and nodded.

"Fine" she said, as if he was an annoying kid and she was only doing this so that he would leave her alone afterwards. Blaise smiled and dealt out 8 cards each.

"Crazy 8's, I trust you know how to play?" Ginny rolled her eyes and grabbed her hand.

"Of course I do" she said. They started off slow but the game soon turned more competitive. They were both set on winning and both had a glint of roaring determination in their eyes, as if all pent up frustrations were being poured into this match.

"STOP!" Ginny yelled, standing up and putting her hand on the cards.

"Why?" Blaise asked incredulously.

"You can't put your ace of spades down, I clamed it the suit as clubs with my 8!"

"Yes I can, aces are wild too! DUH!" Blaise said, attempting to take her hand of the deck.

"NO! If it was, the game would be called crazy 8's _and _aces!" Ginny said defiantly, keeping her hand firmly on the deck.

"No I'm telling you, aces are wild!" Blaise was now standing too, facing Ginny.

"No, they're not! You're cheating!"

"I'm not cheating! How dare you call me a cheater! I never cheat! You're the cheater! You and the whole world are cheating on me!" he yelled, his face barely an inch from hers. Ginny opened her mouth to retort but Blaise had planted his lips firmly against hers. He placed his hands behind her head. Ginny got over her shock quickly and began to kiss back with a furious passion. They were locked in a battle for dominance, forcing their pent up anger, frustration and pains into each other, as if they had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Blaise moved one of his hands down to the small of her back and pulled her closer. She pushed herself forward, into his chest, clinging onto his robes and sending them both off balance to the ground, but their lips never parted.

When oxygen became urgent they finally parted, gasping for air with swollen lips. Ginny rolled off him and to the floor, panting but feeling greatly relieved. They lay there for a few more minutes to take in what they had just done, smiling as if the world's weight had just been lifted off their shoulders.

Slowly Ginny stood up, she offered Blaise a hand which he took and stood up beside her, smiling sheepishly down at her.

"Ahem!" Ginny and Blaise whipped around to see Ms. Pince glaring at them, their hair tussled and uniform in complete disarray (Ginny's blouse had come undone quite a bit and Blaise's tie was backwards, twisting his shirt in an odd fashion so that part of his well-toned stomach was showing. Ginny grinned cheekily up at the librarian. "OUT!" she yelled. Ginny grabbed her books and fled from the library with Blaise, laughing the whole way.

There was no way to explain the happiness they both felt. Once their life seemed as if it couldn't get any worse someone came in and blew the clouds away, letting the sun shine through once more.

**Awww… aren't they so cute together? They're my favorite couple, after Lucius and Hermione, of course:) I know you guys are more into the Lucius/Hermione action, and I promise the next chapter will be totally devoted to just that, but I love this couple and I had to have them in here. I hope you enjoyed it! R&R! Tootles!**

** King twig (lord of all kings of all frogs) **


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: _**An invitation**

Hermione and Lucius had just entered the castle when Hermione was cornered by her new friends, giggling like little school girls.

"Harriet! There you are!" Patty (Patricia) said with a grin. She had long black curly hair that was always tied back in a messy bun. Hermione liked her but the girl was too much like Lavender and Parvati to earn her entire respect.

"We've been looking all _over _for you! Where were you last night?" Linda asked. Linda had silky blond hair that changed its style everyday (today it was in a long braid that fell down to her middle back). The male species of Hogwarts seemed quite drawn to her, every week she could be seen snogging a different guy.

"Why the bloody hell is he here?" Zi said, indicating Lucius. She was a punk, to put it simple. Her real name was Natalie but she swore that if anyone so much as thought that name she would nail them in the head. She had purple hair, spiked up in all sorts of directions as well as a lip ring and an eyebrow piercing. Adorning her wrists and neck were several spiked collars and bracelets which Hermione thought made her look like a dog, quite frankly. Zi seemed thoroughly put off by her friend's behaviors. Lily was just standing beside them, holding a pile of books in her arms and looking tired but happy.

Hermione looked back at Lucius who looked uneasily at the girls.

Gasp! "Did you two just come in from outside, _alone?_" Patty asked, eyes wide in excitement, Linda gasped and looked at the sexy teacher while Hermione cringed at the suggested thought.

"All this time we thought you were studying in the library! You never came back last night, we thought you had fallen asleep in your books again!" These people knew her too well, Hermione decided. "But noo…she was out having fun with our new potions prof-"

"Enough!" Lucius said, stepping in, "What ever Harriet and I were doing outside has nothing to do with you" oh gee, thanks Mr. I'm-so-smart-I'm-going-to-further-they're-suspicions Hermione thought furiously.

"On first name basis, are we now?" Patty said, she and Linda exchanged knowing glances and erupted into a fit of giggles. Zi looked bored while Lily, bless her, seemed slightly shocked by this. Lucius's face stiffened and turned pale at his mistake, he replied quickly.

"If you do not have anything of importance to say to Miss Grant here, you'll forgive me if I cut this meeting short. I was escorting Miss Grant up to Dumbledore's office where she is needed" Lucius said smoothly. Patty raised her eyebrows but didn't press it any further.

"Fine. Ok, well, it's kind of a secret you see" Linda said, she and Patty erupted back into fits of giggles. Zi rolled her eyes (which were heavily lined with black eyeliner) and Lily sighed in annoyance.

"Tomorrow after dinner we'll be having a sleep over, meet us in the dorm at 8" Lily said matter-of-factly, and the foursome left (two of them still giggling madly) before Hermione could respond. She was shocked, she had been at this school for barely a week and already the Marauders had pulled a serious prank on her, she had been kissed by Sirius Black, she was chained to Lucius Malfoy, the father of her arch-enemy let us not forget, and asked to go to a strange slumber party by her lunatic dorm-mates.

She was seriously starting to question her idea of trying to fix these people.

Lucius recovered first, "Are they always like this?" he asked.

"Um… I don't know, I didn't really hang out with a lot of girls in my old school" Hermione offered. There was a slightly awkward pause before they decided to head up to Dumbledore's office, they had to at least attempt to let him know of their situation, they couldn't live like this forever.

They ascended the spiral staircase up to his office and entered after knocking on the heavy wooden door.

"Well, well, Lucius, what seems to be the matter here?" the Head master asked pleasantly. Hermione suddenly realized how young he looked, how _alive _he was compared to the future head master who was, actually, quite dead. She could ask him all the questions that Harry never got the chance to, ask him how to defeat Voldemort, how to stop all the deaths… but she wouldn't. She mustn't, maybe once she had a plan formulated she would know what to do.

"Well, you see Albus, Miss Grant and I have been bonded by-" he began, but found that his throat closed up before he could finish. _Blasted Potter! _His thoughts yelled inside his head as his eyes widened in rage.

"By…" The Head Master prompted, sitting on his desk and looking at him with bemusement. Hermione looked between them, but didn't offer any words for she knew they'd be stopped by James's spell; instead she undid the invisibility charm on the chain and watched as the head master's eyes widened in curiosity. "Oooo, well what do we have here Lucius?"

"It's a-" Lucius's face became red with anger as he was, once again, cut off by the charm on the chain.

"I see…" the Head Master stroked his beard in a very seeing way and examined the chain. "Another potion go wrong in your class Lucius?" he asked pleasantly.

"What! No! What do you mean, _another_ potion?" Lucius demanded.

"Now, now, Lucius, don't get upset, we can fix this up in a jiffy! Come closer" Dumbledore ordered as he took out his wand. The two hesitantly stepped forward and Dumbledore tapped the chain. Nothing. "Hmm…" he tapped it again, still nothing. On the third tap he said an enchantment out loud, "Liffargem encateem"

BANG

Dumbledore blinked. His faced was black and his eyebrows singed. He straightened up and cleared his throat, "Well then, that was most unexpected". Lucius looked down at the chain. Dumbledore hadn't fixed it, in fact, it was anything but fixed. Its previous length had been reduced by 3 feet, Lucius's and Hermione's hands were now only separated by 14 inches of golden chain.

"GAAAAHHHHH!" Lucius screamed and Hermione's eyes widened in horror. "You idiotic excuse for a Head Master! Now what, you ignorant old geezer? Huh? NOW WHAT?" he made for the Head Master's throat, but since him and Hermione were now quite a bit closer, that feet was made impossible. Hermione grabbed the bookcase behind her and held on to it with all her might as Lucius struggled to get to the old man who sat back and chuckled pleasantly at the whole sight.

"Well, Lucius, it would appear that until you are ready to talk to me about your problem I will not be able to fix it" he smiled cheerfully and stepped gracefully away from the crazed potions professor. "Until then Miss Grant will have to miss her classes and follow you around to yours" at this Hermione let go of the bookshelf, Lucius stumbled forward with the sudden lack of restraint and fell to the floor with Hermione following him. His arm was twisted back painfully and Hermione was indeed straddling him…again. Ugh. She quickly rolled off him turned her wide eyes to Dumbledore.

"What do you mean, _miss my classes!"_ she demanded. Lucius stood up, spitting some carpet threads out of his mouth and turned to the head master as well.

"How can she possibly follow me to my classes, Albus?"

"Simple. She'll follow you under the pretence of being a student teacher."

"Ooooo! I've always wanted to be a teacher-"

"A _student teacher?_" Lucius exclaimed, "I can't possibly have a student follow me around all day! She'll disrupt my classes! I won't be able to teach with her!"

"Well then you'll kindly tell me what's wrong with that golden chain binding you two" Dumbledore said amiably. Lucius opened and closed his mouth repeatedly like a fish out of water. After a few moments Hermione sighed, nodded towards the head master and pulled a reluctant Lucius out of the office.

"HOW DARE HE?" Lucius bellowed as soon as they were of the stair case, "Brilliant man my rear tootin' end!" and it was on this day that Mr. Lucius Malfoy had sworn to make Dumbledore's life living hell. "First, I'll collect embarrassing pictures from the members of the ministry, then I'll blackmail them into doing what I want, then I'll command them to ruin the head master's life just the way he's ruined mine! Then we'll see whose laughing Dumbledore you old geezer! Then we'll see whose laughing!" Lucius erupted in cruel laughter, his eyes glinted with insanity.

"Um, sir?" Hermione asked uneasily, he turned his head to face her, still chuckling evilly, "I think we can find a way out of this chain. We just need to stay calm"

"Calm? YOU WANT ME TO STAY CALM!" he erupted into giggles and, gasping for breath, fell to the ground where he began to cry. "Why?" he sobbed, "This has ruined my career! My entire career! Father always said I'd amount to nothing, well he's right. I'm just the most shitiest up piece of shit on the planet. I'll grow up poor and lonely and all the muggle kids will pass my house on their way to school and be like: "That's where the ugly old geezer lives, let's throw eggs at his house!" a fresh wave of sobs erupted from the blond and Hermione felt compelled to sit beside him and comfort him.

"There, there" she said, patting his back lightly. Lucius pulled out a bottle of fire whiskey from his coat and Hermione's eyes widened in shock as she saw him chug down the strong alcoholic liquid. He put down the bottle, belched loudly and put his head on Hermione's shoulder which stiffened at the touch.

"It's just that hiccup my whole life I've been trying hiccup to satisfy my parents, sniff hiccup but I'll just never gulp be good enough for them! more crying" Hermione didn't know what to say. Could this be true? Is this why Lucius joined the Voldemort? Could this possibly be the reason why his son was such an arrogant jerk? Because he treated him the same way his parents had treated him? Hmmm. Hermione began to see her plan forming in her mind. She could teach Lucius morals and ethics and maybe, just maybe, his son would turn out better, Dumbledore would never be killed because Draco would never join the Dark Side, Ginny's family would still be alive, her parents would still be alive and maybe Voldemort would finally be defeated. Maybe.

Hermione stood up and helped up the grieved and slightly tipsy potions professor who took another long swig from his bottle before stumbling forward down the corridor with Hermione supporting him.

Once they reached his office, they sat down on the floor in silence save for a few hiccups from the professor. Hermione didn't know what to say. She never expected him to react the way he did. He always seemed to have such a cool exterior that to see him crumble like this was shocking and baffling. They sat there for a while longer until the bell rang and announced that the morning classes were over and it was time for lunch.

Hermione's stomach grumbled in protest; she hadn't eaten anything since the previous night and was dying to bite into some fluffy mashed potatoes coated in warm creamy gravy…

Hermione snapped out of her daydream involving food when she felt her hand being wrenched downwards by the chain. Lucius had tipped over and fallen asleep on the fluffy green carpet. Another surprising fact about the Malfoys is that they seemed to have a low alcohol tolerance.

Hermione rolled her eyes and tried to stand up and reach for the glass of water on his desk, planning to splash it on his face.

She was unsuccessful, however, when he pulled her back down and wrapped his arms around her. "Mmmmm…" he breathed into her hair. Hermione's eyes flew open as wide as they could and she moved her head away from the professor's whose sexy body was making her quite uncomfortable indeed.

Blushing at the close proximity of their bodies, Hermione tried to move only to feel the grip around her waist tighten. "Um, professor? Hello? Professor!" She lifted one of his eyelids briefly but all he did was smile and pull her closer. "Heeeellloooo! Professor! This is against school rules this is, it's illegal! Professor, pleaseWAKE UP!" Hermione yelled, starting to panic as she felt Lucius's thumb move in circular motions on her thigh.

"Gurflepulnkennooffle" he replied brilliantly. Hermione tried again.

"Heeellllloooooo! PROFESSOR MALFOY! MR. MALFOY! LUCIUS!" she screamed into his ear. He opened his eyes slightly and looked at her.

"You're beautiful, did you know that?"

Hermione's mouth fell open.

No, actually, she didn't know…

"I love you Narcissa" Lucius said, nuzzling his face into her hair. Hermione's stomach dropped. Narcissa. Of course. She was so stupid. But for some reason she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

**Narcissa? NARCISSA! HOW DARE HE!**

_Well…she _is_ rich, pureblooded, blond, beautiful, smart, charming, has a life, isn't a teacher's pet-_

**Ok ok, I get the point. **

Hermione grumbled angrily and wrenched herself out of his grasp, grabbed the water and threw it on his face. After a series of spattering and gasping, Lucius sprung back to consciousness, his face red and eyes wide.

"What the bloody hell!" he yelled, wiping his face on the back of his sleeve.

"Just saving you from embarrassing yourself any further professor" Hermione answered casually, her heart still thumping from the earlier scene. Lucius's face paled but he didn't question what he could've possibly been doing.

"I need a shower" he decided, standing up.

"A shower? _Why_?"

"Because my hygiene _matters _to me, Miss Grant, and I just spent a night in the Forbidden Forest. I fancy a shower. Come." He repeated.

"But _how_ exactly are you going to… er…"

"Grant, we're going to have to figure this out sometime. I am not parading around the school smelling like a Mudblood." Hermione's face suddenly went stony. It finally sunk in that this was indeed the father of her worst enemy, no matter how sexy he was, the Malfoys were all the same. This man was going to become a Death Eater soon, whether he knew or not, and he would be the one responsible for Charlie's death in the future. Hermione's eyes filled with tears at the thought of the Weasleys. Why? Why did it have to happen to them? The most wonderful people on the face of the Earth? Life wasn't fair. Hermione turned away red-faced from man in front of her, anger boiling up inside her.

Now Lucius was fully confused. What had he said? Ok, so maybe "Mudblood" was a bit rude from a teacher… but, rude enough to cause… tears?

"Er, Miss Grant? Harriet?" Lucius tried, "Are you ok?"

"Of course!" Hermione said in tight voice, "let's go". Lucius gave her one last look before heading out the door, Hermione following as far away as possible, wiping her eyes roughly on the back of her sleeve.

Once they had reached the showers Hermione was forced to push her feelings aside at the shocking sight of the expansive teachers' bathroom. In the middle was a large pool-like tub, not unlike that of the prefects' bathroom. To the left were about a dozen of large cubicles lined up against the wall, each equipped with a sink, a toilet, and a large shiny mirror. To the right were even larger shower stalls.

"I think" Lucius started "that it would be best if we both put on swim suits and went in the tub". Hermione looked at the large tub, then at her own grimy body and had to agree. She watched soundlessly as Lucius transfigured his clothes into a dark green bathing suit, trying not to notice his wonderfully filled out body but failing miserably. He smirked, noticing her slightly wide eyes that seemed angled as his chest. Hermione scowled, that smirk resembled horribly like Draco's.

Hermione transfigured her clothes into a skimpy bikini and got to smirk herself as Lucius's mouth dropped slightly and his eyes followed her to the tub. Hermione, having gotten back at Lucius, transfigured her swim suit into a simple one-piece and started filling the tub with water. Once full, the two stepped in and Hermione, wanting to get this over as soon as possible, began furiously washing her hair, while Lucius scrubbed delicately at his pale skin.

"Ok, I'm done, let's get out" Hermione said, heading towards the edge of the tub.

"Not so fast! I'm not finished yet! Merlin, what's your hurry?" Lucius asked, yanking Hermione who was half-out back into the tub with the chain.

"YAIH" she squealed, slipping back into the tub, "Malfoy!" Lucius grinned and continued scrubbing himself.

"That's _professor _Malfoy to you. Tisk tisk, those marauders are really getting to you aren't they?" Hermione glared at him. She was about to reply when suddenly the door opened behind them.

Hermione and Lucius whipped around to see who it was, but all they could hear was furious whispering from the other side.

"Are they there?"

"I don't know, let me check"

"Guys, this is the teachers bathroom, we shouldn't be here"

"Yeah, imagine seeing McGonagall naked!"

"Eeeewwwwwwwwww! Peter, that's disgusting!"

"Arrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh! My miiinnnnd! My beautiful mind! I've been scarred for life!"

Hermione and Lucius exchanged curious glances before turning back to the door.

"Sorry guys. Just saying, it might be wise not to go further…"

"But we need to find them!"

"Yeah! It'll be so much fun!"

"We've checked everywhere else, this is the last place they could be"

"Ok, ok, check if they're there" Hermione suddenly felt a strong arm grab her shoulder and push her under the bubbles. Opening her eyes under water, Hermione looked furiously at Lucius who put a finger to his lips.

"Well, looks like they're not here James, let's go" Remus said, stepping out from behind the door with the others, Peter was shielding his eyes.

"It's ok Pete, you can look" Sirius said. Peter slowly lowered his hands from his eyes.

"That's weird. There's still water in the bath. Where are they?" Peter asked.

"Good question" James said as he walked cautiously up to the edge of the tub, trying to pear into the soapy water. Suddenly Lucius jumped up with Hermione and grabbed James by the legs, pulling him in.

"ARRRRGGGHHHH!" James yelled as he splashed into the soapy depths of the tub. Hermione and Lucius were laughing like maniacs as James splashed to the surface.

"James!" Sirius yelled, rushing forward. Unfortunately for him, he slipped in a large soapy puddle and found himself sliding into the tub to join his soaked friend.

Remus and Peter were laughing hysterically at their friends, making sure to keep a good distance between them and the bath.

James turned a livid face to Hermione.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR!" He yelled, splashing his way towards the laughing brunette. Hermione tried to look at him seriously but failed horribly as she burst out laughing again. James was flabbergasted. Finally she and Lucius calmed down and she answered him.

"Well, get this chain off us and I promise it won't happen again!" she replied cheerfully. James suddenly remembered the chain and smirked.

"No." he said. And Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Fine" She took a fistful of bubbles and shoved it into James's open mouth.

"PLFFFF!" James spat into the tub. Sirius came forward to his friend's defense. Hermione remembered her first experience with this guy. It had been quite embarrassing. Seeing his serious face she stepped back slightly, raising her eyebrows.

"ARRRRGGGHHHHH!" he yelled, leaping on top of Hermione who shrieked just as she was forced under water, laughing like a little school girl.

Lucius felt himself be pulled under the water with her, despite his efforts to stay at the surface. Through all the scrambling and playful struggling in the water between Hermione and Sirius (shrieking and giggling had erupted from not just the brunette as Peter and Remus joined them, having transfigured their clothes into trunks), Lucius had somehow ended up at the bottom within a matter of seconds.

Suddenly a train of bubbles could be seen coming from the bottom of tub as Hermione's foot collided with something…squishy. She stopped fighting, causing the others to follow her line of vision to the man at the bottom of the bath. Lucius suddenly leapt up from the bottom, gasping in pain, his hands covering his groin area. Hermione put a hand to her mouth as she tried to bite back her laughter.

snort "sorry professor I-" snort "didn't mean to" snort "honest!" snort. She said, patting his shoulder lightly.

The professor turned to gasp out a reply when suddenly the door banged open and they all turned to see a fuming McGonagall standing in the door way.

She turned open mouthed to the guilty teens, her furious gaze resting on Lucius. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!" she roared, her nostrils flaring. Lucius turned helplessly towards her, still hunched over, his eyes begging for her to understand.

"Professor I swear I had nothing to do with this" he squeaked (Hermione snorted again). James and Sirius burst out laughing at the sound of his voice and soon another water war had erupted, splashing McGonagall who was standing screeching for order on the sidelines. Lucius hobbled over to the edge of the tub, standing clear of the crazy teenagers.

"STOP! STTTOOOOOOOOOPPPPP! OR I CAN AND WILL AND SHALL EXPEL YOU! ALL OF YOU!" she screeched. Hermione stopped immediately and turned horrorstricken to McGonagall.

Finally things calmed down and McGonagall was able to direct them all out of the bathroom single file, including Lucius. "OUT OUT OUT! Detention! All of you! Next week, all week! My office after class! Now _get!_" They all turned to leave, anxious to get away from the crazed tomato when she called Lucius back.

"Mr. Malfoy, I would like to speak with you. Never in all my years of teaching have I seen a professor to bring teenagers into the staff restrooms. I thought you were too young for the job, but Dumbledore chose to ignore me. Well, we'll see what he has to say about this! Come with me Lucius, we're going to the headmaster's office"

She grabbed Lucius's arm roughly and dragged him forward, Hermione trailing behind. "I don't need to speak to _you _Miss Grant" McGonagall said. Hermione blushed.

"Well…I uh…"

"Where I go she goes, Minerva" Lucius said, yanking his arm out of her grip.

"_Excuse me?" _McGonagall said, turning around and putting her hand on her hips, "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Well…she is my student teacher" Lucius said. Hermione had to conceal a grin.

"Your student teacher?"

"She... well, Dumbledore you see…is having Miss Grant here, follow me around and learn about life as a potions professor before she herself becomes one" Lucius improvised, Hermione closed her eyes and waited for McGonagall's reaction.

"A student teacher…well that's new…I'll have to speak to Albus about this…" McGonagall hurried off, forgetting entirely about Hermione and Lucius.

"Well then" Lucius started.

"That was lucky" Hermione said.

Lucius looked at her. Whereas he had transformed his swimsuit back into his school robes, Hermione was still in her swimsuits, standing in a small puddle of water that had gathered on the floor by her feet. He laughed. "Nice look, Grant".

"Not as good as yours will be at tonight's sleepover" Lucius stopped laughing.

"What?"

- 14 -


	6. Chapter 6

**Yay! Another chapter! I'm not sure if I like this one that much... but I'll leave it up to you people to decide whether it's good or not! **

**Thank you to my awesome reviewers, you guys keep the chapters coming! **

**Enjoy:) **

_Chapter 6: _**The sleep over. **

"You can't be serious. Miss Grant, please tell me this is some sort of weird joke that your demented humour thought up. Please tell me you are not going to put me through this. Miss Grant? Miss Grant! Harriet I demand you to speak to me!"

"Sorry professor, but you have no choice. I can't back out of a _sleep over_. How would I explain myself? 'Uh, sorry, I can't go to the slumber party tonight because I'm planning on bunking with Malfoy-'"

"_Professor _Mal-"

"'In his office, see you in the morning!' No, I cannot back out. Then I'd have to explain why exactly I'm spending so much time with you and then one idea would lead to the next and I just wouldn't want to get into that mess" Hermione finished with an air of finality while shuffling through her trunk.

"_Harriet_" Lucius whined.

"It's either this or I dress you up as a girl and you come along pretending to be a friend I invited from Hufflepuff" Lucius's eyes widened in horror and Hermione straightened up with a cloak in her hands. "Ah hah!" she smiled triumphantly.

"Surely there's some other way" he pleaded. Hermione thought for a moment.

"I honestly can't think of any. Except… not going… which isn't an option as I've already discussed with you. Things would get too complicated."

"What part of your crazy brain is telling you that throwing an invisibility cloak over me and having me follow you around all night while avoiding bumping into your friends and making no sound at all is less complicated than just saying: I CAN'T GO?" Lucius demanded. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Men" she muttered. The two had snuck into the girl's dormitory, (seeing as he was a teacher, the stairs had allowed Lucius up) and Hermione was trying to get what she needed as quickly as possible before she was caught by her dorm mates alone in the room with their sexy potions professor... Lucius sighed in exasperation and flopped down on the carpet. The sudden jerk on the chain caused Hermione to loose balance and she yelped as she tumbled down on top of him.

"You really must stop doing that, Miss Grant" Lucius commented gruffly, trying to untangle the chain that had somehow gotten caught between Hermione's legs.

"Stop doing what?" Hermione said, trying to cool down her burning face.

"Throwing yourself at me"

"WHAT! I have done nothing of the sort! It's you who keeps dragging me down on top of y-" Lucius's free hand had suddenly covered Hermione's mouth and he looked up at the door. Footsteps and giggling could be heard coming up the spiral steps.

"Bloody hell!" Lucius whispered. Hermione went to sit up but because of her awkward position it was made quite impossible. She spied the invisibility cloak a few feet off and stretched her arm as far out as possible to get it, but it lay just outside her grasp. As she tried frantically to reach it, the voices were getting closer and just as they were outside the door, Lucius had unhooked the chain from between Hermione's legs and Hermione had made a mad lunge for the cloak, closing her fist around it.

Lucius grabbed her around the waist and rolled her on top of him (cue blush from Hermione) so that they took up as little space as possible. Hermione whipped the invisibility cloak over them just in time as the door burst open.

"Oooooo! This is going to be so much fun!" Hermione and Lucius could hear Patty squeal. Linda giggled in response.

"I _know!_ I can't wait! What are you going to wear?"

"Oh, I just have these sweetest pyjamas with little penguins on them; I got them for my birthday! There my all-time _fav_!" Linda and Patty continued to gush over the clothes they were going to wear to the sleepover when suddenly Linda redirected the conversation.

"Hey, Harriet's trunk is open" Hermione could feel Lucius's chest stop rising as he ceased breathing. Linda and Patty shared evil looks and mischievous smiles crossed their faces as they approached the trunk.

"I wonder if she has a diary" Patty said, peering into the trunk. They both giggled horribly and Hermione turned her head to get a better look. Linda's black shoe was right in front of her face. Hermione gulped.

**No! Nonononononononononono! Don't do that! Don't do that Patty! Linda! That's private that is! Don't you _dare _go into my trunk Linda- Linda no! I WILL EAT YOUR BABIES! **Hermione thought furiously, biting her tongue.

"What is _this_?" Linda said, pulling something out of the trunk and looking much like a kid holding a particularly large lolly. Lucius tilted his head slightly so he could see better and Patty leaned in closer. Hermione tried to see what they were looking at and immediately recognized it as one of her pictures from the future.

**No… no no no…don't touch that…**

"Is that…"

"I think it is!"

"How could she have gotten this! He's _never _given _me _one!"

"I always thought she had feelings for him! The way she looks at him sometimes, you know, eyes all glazed over and completely lost in her own world!" Patty squealed with delight while Linda whispered under her breath "I _knew _it! I just _knew _it!" Hermione rolled her eyes, what the hell were they talking about?

"You know what we have to do then, tonight" Linda said with wide eyes, her face completely serious.

"What?" Patty asked eyes also wide.

"We have to get them together!" she whispered and Patty gasped with excitement.

"Yes, yes, _yes!_ They'd be so cute! We'd have to confirm it with Lily first though, make sure it's ok with her…"

"Of course it'll be ok with her! She hates him!"

"Oh this is so perfect!" The two squealed a little longer before dropping their books off on their beds (which had been their original reason for going to the dorms) and scurrying off to dinner.

Hermione and Lucius laid still for a little while longer, just to make sure they weren't coming back before breathing a sigh of relief. Hermione let out a long groan and looked down at Lucius who was looking at her funny. "You like someone?"

"Uh…no…I… well, that is to say I…" Hermione seemed to notice for the first time how close they were… it was almost… cozy…

_Cozy! That's it! I've lost her. _I thought screamed out in Hermione's mind. She cleared her throat. "I most certainly do not fancy anyone. The boys in our year are blundering idiots. Those little toads, Linda and Patty, just uh …huh…" she glanced down at her hands that seemed to have acted on their own accord and latched themselves to Lucius's robes. She gulped. "Made a mistake" she managed. Lucius sat up and she quickly let go, wiping her sweaty hands on her robes discretely.

"So, this man that they were talking about has nothing at all to do with you?" he asked slyly. Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly when suddenly Lucius leapt up and grabbed the photo by the trunk.

"NO!" she shrieked, jumping him. "Do not touch that- give that here- Malfoy give it here!" Lucius held it out of her reach above his head while she leaped up and down, clawing at his arm. Laughing, Lucius tripped and fell backwards, Hermione following. A few tangled, struggling moments later Lucius came out victorious, sitting on Hermione's back and grinning evilly.

"Now, let's see who this Prince Charming is, shall we?" Hermione tried to wrestle herself free of the potions professor's obscene crushing weight (who knew a guy so skinny and fit could weigh so much?) but it was in vain. Lucius flipped over the photo, which turned out to be a picture of…

"POTTER! You like _POTTER?_" His eyes widened in disgust.

"No! No I don't! You don't understand! That's not James-"

"Not _James_! Look at the hair!" He emphasized his point by shoving the picture of Harry in front of Hermione's face. She went to snatch it away but Lucius suddenly jumped up, wrenching her up too and began hopping around the room chanting: "Harriet likes Potter! Harriet likes Potter!"

"I do _not! _You are _so _immature! That is not even James you pathetic-" he put a finger to her lips.

"Whatever you say, Miss Grant" he winked, flashed a charming smile and gave Hermione back her picture. She took it and locked it away safely inside her trunk before grabbing the invisibility cloak and storming down the spiral staircase, Lucius pleasantly chuckling behind her.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Dinner had progressed with as few problems as one could have hoped for. The seating arrangements were a bit of an issue, where Hermione had wanted to sit with her friends Lucius had made it quite clear he was not sitting next to "those hygienically challenged, limited brain-celled, ignorant, arrogant, slimy Gryffindors", as he so kindly put it. Thus, the two ended up sitting at the staff table next to McGonagall.

All the students had been told at lunch by Dumbledore that Hermione was now a student teacher following Lucius around, so the fact that she was sitting beside him wasn't that big of a surprise.

"So, when's the sleepover?" Lucius whispered to Hermione.

"Oh, anxious now, are you?" Lucius grinned.

"I want to see what they do to Potter and you" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I repeat, I. do. _NOT. _fancy him" Hermione said, stabbing her steak with unexpected force.

"Well, we'll find that out tonight won't we?" Lucius smiled evilly and Hermione groaned inwardly.

"Maybe we shouldn't go to the sleepover…" she said, pushing her beans cross the plate.

"What! Are you serious? We can't miss this! I want to know what you females do at these gatherings"

"No, no you don't"

"Yes I d-"

"Harriet!" Lily's bright face popped up at the table and Hermione jerked away from Lucius.

"Yes?" Hermione questioned. Lucius turned and pretended not to be listening.

"For the sleepover…" she dropped her voice, "could you bring some food? We're kind of short..."

"Uh, sure… like what?"

"Like umm… cookies, raspberry pies…oh and whipped cream! Lots and lots of whipped cream!" Lily smiled and Hermione nodded.

"Ok…"

"Awesome! See you later!" Lily gave Hermione one last look before bouncing away.

"Whipped cream? Maybe I don't want to know what happens at these…girl parties…" Lucius said forehead crinkled in concern and Hermione smirked.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

"Ok, ready? Come on Malfoy, we're already late…" Hermione looked at her watch.

"Yeah, yeah, just hold on a sec" Lucius whispered back from under the cloak. He wiped some invisible lint off of his robes, then sniffed and looked up, "Ok, let's go"

They made their way down the hallway, past the Fat Lady, up the dormitory stairs and stopped in front of the dorm door. Lucius, completely hidden, looked at Hermione. "Um… you don't actually do anything… scary at these parties… do you?" Hermione smirked.

"You'll see" she shrugged evilly and opened the door.

"HAAARRIIIEEEET!" Patty screamed jumping off the bed and throwing herself at Hermione, narrowly missing Lucius. Linda soon followed and Lily stayed back smiling.

"Finally!" Zi said grinning, looking at the pies Hermione had brought.

"Ok, let's start!" Lily said, grabbing the food. All the girls jumped onto Linda's bed (Hermione sat so that Lucius could sit on the floor beside her)

"Alright!" Linda said, clapping her hands after setting up the cookies, "Let's get right to it" at this she looked over at Hermione "truth or dare!" she said. Patty smiled grandly.

"Yes! I wanna go first!" Patty said.

"Ok, remember girls, dares can't be backed out of, magic will make sure of that, and as to truth, you must tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, got it?" they all nodded, "good! And you don't have a choice anyways, this is magical truth or dare, we'll know if you lie! Alright Patty, go ahead"

"Harriet" Hermione gulped, "truth or dare?"

"Uh… truth" she said. Patty smiled evilly.

"Tell me, what's it like following the_ potions professor _around all day?" Patty asked, all the other girls leaned towards her in anticipation (Zi had a mouthful of cookies).

"Uh…" Hermione didn't know what to say, "it's… not…bad…" Lucius snorted silently and looked up at Hermione, loving the way she squirmed when answering the question. Suddenly Hermione's nose went bright green, indicating that she was telling the truth.

"Oh, I'd _die _to be in your position!" Linda said, thinking about the sexy potions professor, "he's such a _hunk_!" The rest of the girls nodded in agreement, even Zi had her own admiration for the ex-Slytherin. Lucius flashed a cocky smile, not that anyone could see of course.

"Well, he's not ugly, granted, but he's still an arrogant jerk" Hermione said, glancing over at Lucius for a brief second. _WHAT? _He thought furiously, glaring at Hermione. The rest of the girls, to his dismay, nodded in agreement.

"Your turn Harriet" Lily said.

"Uh… Linda… truth or dare?"

"DARE!" she cried out excitedly.

"Can I say the dare?" Zi asked.

"Sure, go ahead" Hermione said, glad to be relieved of thinking up a dare for Linda.

"I dare you, Linda, to run around the common room and pinch all the guys arses!" Zi said grinning evilly. Linda looked unfazed, in fact she looked rather excited. She jumped off the bed and ran down the stairs, closely followed by the rest of the girls (and Lucius) who watched in excitement as Linda took off around the common room.

"OW!"

"What the-"

"Bloody hell!"

"Ow! Linda?"

"FCK! What the hell was that!"

"Holy-"

"GAH!"

Linda came running back, red as a tomato but laughing hysterically. They all ran back upstairs and slammed the door behind them, Lucius just making it inside.

Panting, they all sat back down on the bed and Linda started, "Ok, my turn. Lily!" Lily straightened up. "Truth or dare"

"Truth" she said. Linda grinned.

"Tell me, Lily, who out of the Marauders do you fancy the most?" at this question Lily remained silent for long time, pondering her answer.

"Well… Sirius is kind of cute, but way too self-centred..." so far her nose glowed a bright green, "James, as you know, is out of the question," the green dimmed a bit but remained, "Peter is fat" the green intensified, "So I guess it's Remus" the green colour of her nose dimmed yet again, indicating she was telling the truth, but not the whole truth.

"Come on, Lily, you have to be honest!" Patty whined.

"I have been honest!" Lily replied defiantly, "And now that I've answered your stupid question it's my turn!" Lily said with a tone of finality. Linda and Patty groaned but didn't do anything more to protest. "Alright, Zi"

"Dare" she replied almost immediately. Lily grinned.

"Alright, let me think…I dare you to take this can of whipped cream and spray it down Snape's back!"

"Gladly! Where is he?" Zi said, clapping her hands together business-like.

"In the library, probably" Lily answered. Zi grinned, grabbed the can of whipped cream and ran out of the common room, closely followed by her four friends (and Lucius). Once at the library they all stood at the door and watched as Zi strutted over to the Slytherin.

"Hello Severus" she said seductively. Linda and Patty snorted and Hermione watched with disbelieving eyes as Zi ran a hand through her future Potions professor's hair.

"Uh…hi…" Snape said uneasily, looking around to make sure no one was watching this. Zi sat on his lap and he jumped slightly. "What the bloody hell do you want" Snape sneered. Zi looked up at him seductively.

"You know what I want" and just she leant in, (Hermione nearly throwing up) she moved the bottle behind his head, opened his shirt slightly and sprayed.

"WHAT THE FCKING HELL!" Snape demanded, jumping up and trying to get rid of the whipped cream, only managing in smearing it more. "You are _dead_, Clearwater" he gritted out. Zi blew him a kiss before dashing outfrom the library, closely followed by her friends who were laughing hysterically.

One they got back to the dormitory they settled back onto the bed and continued. "Alright, my turn, Harriet" Zi said.

**Why me? **Hermione thought with dread.

"Truth or dare?"

"Uh...dare I guess" Linda and Patty exchanged excited glances.

"Can I say it?" Linda begged.

"Alright, if you want" Zi said, taking a large bite of her raspberry pie. Hermione's feeling of dread only intensified.

"I dare you" Linda paused for dramatic effect "to declare your undying love to James Potter" Hermione groaned and the girls burst into giggles, she was about to protest when Linda interrupted "AND" **oh no **Hermione thought "you need to do it in front of the whole Gryffindor common room, oh, and it has to be believable" Hermione sighed.

**GAAAHHH! **Her insides screamed **Who ever decided to become friends with these people! **

She got up off of the bed and the girls giggled with excitement, "Come on, Harriet, you can do it! We know you love him!" (cue more giggles) Hermione rolled her eyes. Oh gods. Lucius followed closely behind, laughing hysterically (silently, of course).

Her so-called friends stood back by the stairs and Hermione looked at them one last time before walking determinedly over to the Marauders who were talking amiably on the couches by the fireplace, Lucius sniggering behind her.

"Excuse me" she said, clearing her throat and looking straight at James.

"Uh… yes…" he said looking around for Lucius. Sirius himself got up and looked behind her.

"Where's blondie?" he asked. The girls by the stairs looked at each other in confusion.

"Oh, I got rid of him" Hermione answered non-chalantly, waving a hand. The Marauders stared at her in awe.

"You broke the spell? But _how_?" Remus demanded, looking awe-struck. James and Sirius looked thoroughly put out.

"Um… I'll tell you later, that's beside the point right now" Hermione said. Lucius turned to get a better view. She took a deep breath and continued, "James, I think I'm in love with you"

The silence in the common room lasted for only a brief second before Sirius cried out, "WHAT! You love _him!_ But… but…" he looked thoroughly betrayed and hurt whilst James grinned, stood up and made his way towards Hermione.

"Is that so?" he said slyly, wriggling his eyebrows and wrapping an arm around her waist. Hermione gulped and didn't dare glance back at her friends who were all giggling hysterically and whispering amongst themselves.

"Oh no, you don't" Sirius said gruffly, pulling James away from her, "I saw her first!" Hermione's mouth opened in indignation from being treated as an object that one could possess. "Come on, Harriet, admit it, you enjoyed that kiss in the great hall, didn't you?" he looked at her with big blues eyes and a pouting lip.

"Well Sirius I…happen to like James more than you" Hermione flinched at her own words; she was such a horrible actress.

"Yeah Sirius, so bugger off!" James said, giving his friend a rough push in the chest.

"No you bugger off, James! You knew I liked her! Why the bloody hell did you have to go and steel her from me!" He gave James a harsher push and advanced on him. Hermione's eyes widened in shock, was she really this popular? Lucius sniggered from behind her, watching James and Sirius make fools of themselves. Peter looked thoroughly confused whilst Remus didn't seem to be looking at any of them, in fact he seemed to be staring hard at a spot just beside Hermione, where Lucius should've been, his brain working furiously.

"I didn't steel her from you mate, she left you!" James declared.

"Excuse me, I don't think I was ever _with _anybo-" Hermione tried to interfere.

"How would you feel if I started dating Lily? Huh? You know I've always wanted to but I've never touched her because you've been so bloody in love with her!" Lily rolled her eyes at this, "but now that _you've_ stolen _my _girl, maybe I'll just go and ask her out! How would you like _that _James? Huh!" He gave James another push.

"It would suit me just fine!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" James replied defiantly. Hermione rolled her eyes, _boys, _so immature! She went forward to push them apart but unfortunately had briefly forgotten Lucius was still attached to her. He stumbled after her and as she raised her hands to part Sirius and James, the invisibility cloak slid enough to reveal the tips of Lucius' pale fingers. Remus' eyes widened but nobody else seemed to realise, that is, until James tried to kiss Hermione.

"Come here Harriet" James said, pulling her towards him, earning a glare from Sirius. "I'll show you I'm a better kisser than Sirius" Hermione rolled her eyes at the immaturity of it all when James leaned in to kiss her. Sirius lunged forward and went straight into Lucius.

"What the Hell?" he said, stumbling backwards. Hermione's eyes widened in horror and Lucius tried to inch away. Sirius narrowed his eyes and stretched out his hand.

"I really should be going now…" Hermione said suddenly, jumping away from the Marauders, dragging Lucius with her.

"James!" Sirius suddenly proclaimed, forgetting all about their previous quarrel, "he's with her!"

"What?"

"Malfoy, he's with her!" Sirius said again. James's eyes widened in excitement and Remus rolled his eyes going back to his book, muttering something about thick slugs.

Hermione took off for the portrait hole, her mind not knowing what else to do but escape before more people started catching on.

"Not so fast Harriet!" Sirius said, bounding after her, James following closely behind. Hermione whipped by the girls' staircase where they all watched in confusion as she made for the exit, Lucius trying his best to follow without falling on his face or loosing the cloak.

"Harriet, where are you going?" Lily called out.

"I need to uh…" Hermione hesitated for a brief second, "I have girl problems!" she yelled back, Lucius slapped his forehead.

"Yeah right you do!" James called out, from behind them, "I command you to stop!" he yelled. Hermione and Lucius found their feet glued to the floor.

**Dang it, dang it, dang it! **Hermione's mindwas screaming. James reached them and in one fluid motion removed the cloak from Lucius who stood hunched over close to Hermione. James and Sirius smiled gleefully as Hermione tried to hide her burning face. Lucius pulled himself up to his fullest height and glared down at the Marauders.

Lily, Linda, Patty and Zi all ran up to them, looking _very _intrigued. Peter appeared behind Sirius and Remus walked casually up to the group.

"What's he doing here?"

"Was he up in the dorm the _whole_ time!"

"Why are you with _him _at a _girl's slumber party?_" Hermione's friends all started asking.

"Uh…." _Think, Hermione, think! _"ask James!" she said, suddenly pointing at the Gryffindor. They all turned to him and he grinned evilly.

"Promise to keep it a secret?" he said, lowering his voice. They all nodded eagerly, "These two are bonded by a _conloogatis fatalice_-"

"_C__onligatis fatalis_" Remus corrected.

"Right, a _conligatis fatalis_ chain" he said. Lily's eyes widened in astonishment while Patty, Linda and Zi seemed rather confused.

"A what?"

"It's a chain," Sirius explained, "that makes them obey anything James says!" Linda's and Patty's eyes widened in excitement.

"But that doesn't make any sense" Lily said, furrowing her brow in confusion, "to be bonded by that chain they need to-" Remus put a hand on Lily's shoulder.

"I've tried to tell them already, let's see how long it takes for them to figure it out" Lily looked at Remus and the two grinned.

"- see, watch" James continued, "Malfoy, pick your nose!" Lucius's face twisted in disgust as his finger made its way towards his nostril. They all laughed and Remus rolled his eyes.

"Bloody hell, Potter!"

"That's disgusting James" Remus said.

"And horribly immature" Hermione commented.

"You're right Harriet, we need something more….advanced!" Sirius said with excitement looking at James. He whispered something into his ear and the two were soon grinning evilly while Lucius finished wiping his finger on his robes, face still scrunched up in disgust.

"Harriet" James said, "Tell me, who do fancy the most in this common room?" he finished, waggling his eyebrows. They all turned to stare intently at Hermione whose mouth opened involuntarily and she quickly stuffed her fist inside it.

"Lufiush" she muttered.

"Louder!" James said.

"LUFIUSH!" she cried out, her fist still in her mouth, eyes watering and face going red.

"Without the hand, please" James said, grinning.

"LUCIUS!" she shouted. They all stared at her.

"WHAT?" Sirius said, recovering first. Patty and Linda looked at each other in excitement and started whispering madly. James was about to comment when Hermione bolted from the room before he could say anything.

She ran down the corridor, dragging a stunned Lucius behind her, and didn't stop running until she had securely closed the professor's office door behind her. Groaning, she slid to the floor, face in her hands and refusing to look up at the blond.

The professor himself was at a loss for words. He could always mock her, he was good at that, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead he sat down beside her and looked at the floor. Several awkward moments passed, listening in silence to the quiet spattering of rain on the window. Hermione opened her mouth to say something but Lucius interrupted.

"So…you don't like Potter then" he said. Hermione let out a nervous laugh.

"No…not exactly" she gulped and chanced a glance over to Lucius who was still staring at the ground with a small smirk on his face.

"Then why do you have that picture of him in your trunk?" he asked, looking up.

"I uh… that's not…" but Hermione realized she couldn't tell Lucius who it really was, "I have it because… it was a present for Lily for her birthday"

"But she hates Potter"

"No, she loves him; she just doesn't know it yet" Hermione assured him. Lucius raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

"Well, I don't blame you for liking me. Most of the girls in the common room would've probably said the same thing" Hermione looked at him incredulously.

"You have an ego the size of China" she commented.

"Well, I _do _try" he said smirking.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Modesty definitely isn't a Malfoy trait" she muttered. Lucius snorted and looked at the brunette.

"You know other Malfoys?" he inquired.

"Uh… no… I just assumed…" Hermione tried to correct herself. Lucius sighed and looked out the window.

"No, you're quite right" he assured her, "Malfoys are arrogant gits" Hermione looked at him slightly stunned that he would say something like that. His gaze lingered a little longer on the depressing scenery outside and an odd atmosphere filled the room. Suddenly he turned back and began to stand up. "I need to go for a ride" he said.

"A ride?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"On a broomstick, Grant"

"What! But it's raining! Why on earth would you want to go flying _now_?" Hermione demanded, refusing to stand up with him.

"Be_cause_ I need to think. Come" he ordered. Hermione gulped. She hated flying. One of her only faults was her fear of heights, not that she would ever tell Lucius.

"I am _not _going out in pouring rain" she said through clenched teeth.

"Bring an umbrella" Lucius shrugged, pulling Hermione up and dragging her out the door.

"No! Nononononono! Malfoy _please_…" she said, pulling on the chain, her heels skidding across the floor in an attempt to stop him.

"Why, Miss Grant, you're not afraid are you?" he asked, a hint of challenge in his voice.

"No!" Hermione replied almost automatically. "But there must be some other way for you to 'think'" she said desperately.

"No, come along now, you're cutting off the circulation in my wrist" Hermione reluctantly let go of the chain and followed behind him, sighing in defeat and muttering a charm to keep herself dry once outside.

They stepped outside and immediately the rain pounded down on them. Lucius it appeared had cast the same charm as Hermione and both of them were still completely dry once they got to the broom shed.

Lucius pulled out his broom, the most recent clean-sweep, and swung his leg over it. Hermione stood with her arms crossed, eyeing the broom with mistrust, almost as though she expected it to suddenly lash out and bite her.

"Harriet, get on the broom…"

"No." she said defiantly, one last try to make Lucius change his mind. Lucius rolled his eyes and got off the broom. Hermione smiled in victory and uncrossed her arms, ready to turn back to the castle when he grabbed her around the waist and swung her onto the broom, seating himself right behind her. Hermione yelped and her eyes widened in outrage when Lucius kicked off of the ground before Hermione could even think about struggling.

"YAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" a shriek could be heard echoing across the grounds as the two flew up into the cloudy sky. Hermione's hands had immediately latched onto Lucius's thighs on either side of her and she was gripping them with such force that Lucius thought they'd be ripped right off.

"Harriet!" he growled through clenched teeth. "Let…go…of…me…" he said, letting one hand go of the handle and trying to pry her fingers off of him. Hermione shrieked again as the broom swerved slightly from underneath them and gripped Lucius's thighs even tighter.

"Bloody hell!" Lucius cried out, "I'll hold onto you Harriet, JUST LET GO!" he yelled into her ear. Hermione whimpered and loosened her grip ever so slightly. Lucius sighed in relief.

"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die…" Hermione was muttering to herself, eyes closed tightly, when Lucius rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her up against him.

She opened her eyes in surprise and hesitantly let go of Lucius's legs. Cautiously, she peered down at the grounds beneath them, then abruptly sat back up, eyes set determinedly forwards. "Don't look down" she muttered to herself. Lucius chuckled as they sailed across the lake.

"So you are afraid then" he said.

"N-no, just……cautious" Hermione managed.

"Then you wouldn't mind if I did…_this_!"

"EIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYYYY!" Hermione shrieked as the broom took a sudden dive for the lake. Lucius straightened the broom while chuckling pleasantly. "Malfoy you green-speckled maggot-faced slug! Don't ever, EVER do that again! Do you hear me? EVER!" Hermione yelled eyes wide and fingers wrapped tightly around Lucius's arm.

"Relax Miss Grant, I would never kill a student," Lucius paused for a moment in thought then corrected himself, "Unless, of course, that student happened to be Black or Potter" he glared at the mental image of the two and Hermione quivered as she felt the broom shake slightly beneath her.

"Just let me know when you're done thinking, ok?" she said.Lucius chuckled slightly and continued to fly around the lake. A fewminutes passedand Hermione, glancing down uneasily at the lake below asked Lucius, "could we perhaps fly over ground?"

"Why? So that if we crash we break our necks?" Lucius asked, smirking. Hermione gulped.

"Then again, the lake is just fine" she said, inching a little closer to Lucius. Suddenly she felt something. Something… _hard_. "Malfoy… is that…"

"No!" Lucius replied immediately sliding a little further down the broom. Her eyes bulged in realization and she immediately took on a look of disgust.

"Lucius Malfoy! You must have the most perverted, sick, demented mind of anyone I know!" Hermione said, her face burning red at the feeling of Lucius's…hardness.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Lucius said defiantly, nose in the air but face flushed deep red, then "let's go back inside, I'm starting to get wet…" Hermione nearly burst at the double meaning of the sentence before she too realized that her charm seemed to be wearing off.

"Okay then" she readily agreed.

They touched down and Lucius quickly put the broom away, avoiding Hermione's eye and hiding his lower area from view. Their charms were fading fast and before they could get back safely inside the castle they were both soaked. Once inside Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and they made their way to Lucius's office, trailing mud behind them. Halfway their, Hermione heard a familiar voice call out from behind them.

"Hey you there! Filthy kids! Stop right this instant! Look what you've gone and done to the floor! I'll have your heads for this I will! Get back here!" Filtch yelled down the hallway. He obviously didn't see it was a teacher he was yelling at. Lucius looked back and saw him hobbling after them.

"Come on!" he hissed to Hermione, starting to run away.

"But …but…" Hermione looked back at Filtch who was quickly gaining on them, her thoughts screaming different commands.

**RUN!**

_NO! Don't run! You'll just get into more trouble! Besides, you're with a teacher, what's the worst he can do? _

Hermione pondered this for a moment or two before her thoughts quickly reminded her of one important thing.

**IT'S _FILTCH_! **

Right. She took off down the hallway with Lucius, laughing all the way. Once at Lucius's office they quickly entered and slammed the door behind them. Still laughing, Lucius wiped a tear from his eyes and turned to face Hermione. "I hate that man" he said and Hermione nodded in agreement. They were both pressed up against the door, panting with large smiles across there faces.

Lucius slowly turned his head towards Hermione and looked down at her. She in return looked up and slowly both of their smiles disappeared. Lucius turned and put his hand beside her head then leant in. Hermione's heart started pounding faster and faster until his face was barely a centimetre from hers when her heart seemed to stop all together. His eyelids dropped but didn't close entirely and just as his lips were only a few millimetres from Hermione's, the door shook violently. Hermione's head bounced foreword and hit Lucius's. He hissed and pulled away, clutching his forehead.

"I know you're in there! The mud goes right inside! You'll be in big trouble you will! And you're in a teacher's office no less! Wait until I get my hands on you! I'll make you scrub the floor until you can see your vile reflection in it-" Lucius rubbed his forehead roughly and yanked the door open, glaring down at the caretaker who stopped abruptly. "Pro-professor Malfoy! I didn't expect to see you, you see a student went right by here and trailed filthy mud right into your office-"

"Leave" he commanded, glaring down at Filtch.

"But professor, this student must be caught, it is against the rules not to mention more work for _me_ if-"

"_NOW!"_ he ordered. Filtch sent him an awful glare before turning back down the hallway muttering about stuck up purebloods who think they can order everyone around. Lucius slammed the door on him and turned back to Hermione who was looking down at the ground in shame. Clearing his throat nervously, he walked over the door at the other side of his room, Hermione following inevitably. Opening it, they were graced by a luxurious sight.

In the middle of the room was a large king-size bed with two oak night stands on either side. The colour scheme was of a light cream and dark forest green. Along the wall was a large impressive bookcase filled with a variety of books on potions. There was a large dresser near the foot of the bed which had a full-length mirror hanging on the wall beside it. On the far wall were two glass doors that opened up to a small balcony outside. Opposite the bed was yet another door, leading to the bathroom no doubt. Lucius saw Hermione's impressed face and spread his arms widely.

"Welcome to my humble home, Miss Grant" he said, smirking. Hermione nodded and smiled slightly. "We should probablygo to bed soon" he said, glancing at his watch.

The two were both trying to forget about their previous encounter. They had been so close…Hermione thought about the consequences her actions could have had. Lucius could have been in serious trouble, and she might've changed the future drastically. Who knows what would've happened. Hermione reprimanded herself for letting her feelings get the better of her. She was making sure that she would never let that happen again when Lucius spoke.

"We're going to have to sleep in the same bed" he said. Hermione's eyes bulged and she gulped forcibly.

"W-what?" she said nervously, eyeing the bed that now looked far too small.

"We don't have a choice, do we?" Lucius said, stripping down to his boxers and pulling down the covers on the bed. Hermione stared, both at the bed and him and his half naked body. She gulped again.

"Can't we…can't we…" Hermione faltered, trying to think of another alternative.

"No" Lucius said simply, "Now get into bed, I'm tired" he said as he scooted over to the other side so Hermione could get in. Hermione eyed the bed cautiously then sighed in desperation before transfiguring her clothes into plain pink pyjamas, much more modest than what Lucius was wearing. "Good night, Grant" Lucius said, turning off the light.

"Good night Malfoy" Hermione responded in the dark. But she was far from sleeping. Laying on her back she starred wide-eyed at the ceiling.

_Damn Potter. _Was her last coherent thought before sleep finally overcame her and she closed her eyes.

**So... how was it? Good? Bad? Let me know! **

**King Twig**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello my hopefully still loyal fans!!!! lol here's a new chapter, I hope you enjoy it :) i had a bit of a writer's block... but enough of the excuses, let the story contiunue!!!**

Hermione went into a deep sleep and had a very interesting dream… she was back in the future with Harry, Ginny and Ron. It was before the war and the four of them were in Honey Dukes, scanning the shelves when Hermione tripped on a rather large lolly pop that someone had carelessly left lying on the floor. On the ground Hermione made to stand up when a hand offered to help her. She looked up and saw Lucius standing there, 20 years younger, but as she took the hand and stood up, Lucius's face became narrower and his hair shortened, before she knew it she was staring into the face of Draco Malfoy.

"Hey Granger" she could hear him whisper. Her throat went dry. He smiled seductively at her and Hermione was surprised to find herself grinning back up at him. Slowly he leaned in; the rest of the dream seemed to freeze as his brilliant grey eyes grew closer. Hermione's heart pounded furiously in her chest as her eyelids drooped at the feeling of Draco's breath on her face. He kept getting closer and closer until –

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Hermione jolted back to reality; her eyes popping open, she sat up with cold sweat dripping from her forehead. Panting, she quickly looked over at Lucius who stirred beside her.

"Whad fegurfnle haffoofed…" he trailed off as sleep took him back into its depths. Hermione slowed her breathing and rubbed her hands across her face, wiping the sweat off. It was just a dream…a disturbing one, granted, but a dream non-the-less. Nothing to worry about...Hermione took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Shuddering at the thought of her dream ever becoming a reality she looked over at the window, it was still dark out but a layer of pink sky could be seen along the horizon. Sighing she made to go back to sleep when she heard a knocking on the bedroom door.

Hermione jumped so bad she almost soiled herself. Who would be here at this hour? How did they get into Lucius's office? What did they want? These questions raked her mind as the knocking continued, becoming more urgent the longer Hermione did nothing. She looked over at Lucius and nudged him.

"_Malfoy!" _She whispered. No reaction. She nudged him harder. "_Malfoy!!!"_ She hissed into his ear. He turned away from her, grunting and pulling the covers firmly above his head. Hermione rolled her eyes and grabbed her wand from the nightstand beside her.

Carefully, she edged out of bed, keeping her arm that was attached to Lucius on the mattress.

"Alohamora" she whispered. The door unlocked and the knocking stopped. Hermione saw the door handle turn painfully slow, wand at the ready she held her breath as the door swung open.

"GINNY!!" she shrieked dropping her wand, forgetting entirely about the fact that she was attached to the potions professor and leaping on her friend. Lucius was pulled to the edge of the bed but didn't wake up, it turns out that in addition to low alcohol tolerance, Malfoys are also very deep sleepers.

"Oh Hermione!!!" the red head squealed hugging Hermione tightly. Hermione tried to hug back as best as she could with one arm. Eventually they pulled apart gazing at each other in disbelief.

"But how…why…how did you-" Hermione began, lost for words, thinking that support from her friend could not have come at a better time.

"I talked to McGonagall, Hermione, everyone's so worried! Nobody knows where you went! But you're here…you're safe…everything's going to be ok…_oh Hermy!_" Ginny gasped, burying her face into Hermione's hair, concealing her tears. Hermione face contorted in confusion.

"Ginny, what's wrong?..." she asked slowly. They pulled apart and Hermione could now see how red Ginny's eyes had become.

"Oh Hermione, things are so different now, you have no idea, I was so worried that something had happened to you… but you're ok…" she seemed to confirm this by putting her hands around Hermione's face.

"Gin…you're not making any sense…what's happened?" Hermione asked, worry etched across her face. Ginny looked down, her hands dropping by her sides and she gulped a lump down in her throat.

"Hogwarts, Hermione, has…" she cleared her throat roughly "it's closed. Hogwarts is closed."

Hermione stared at her friend, having trouble taking in this shocking news. She stood motionless, not able to do anything.

"And…Harry?" she croaked at last. Ginny sniffed.

"He's…gone…disappeared. Nobody knows where he went…I…don't know what happened to him…" she whimpered and put her head in her hands. "McGonagall gave me this really complicated potion a week after the school closed and I had told her where you were. It sent me back in time, she wants me to bring you back and for us to live at the Head Quarters with the rest of the Order…"

"But why's Hogwarts closed?!" Hermione demanded to know.

"McGonagall, she had to close the school because… 'cause…" Ginny looked back up at Hermione's concerned face, "because there was an…_attack_…Death Eaters came…looking for Harry…he escaped but nobody knows where he is…Oh Hermione, the Death Eaters were horrible!" Ginny breathed as if she was reliving a terrible memory "they took out the Great Hall, Malfoy's dad, he…he killed some teachers…professor Vector and…and Hagrid are dead…" Hermione gasped.

"WHAT?!" she yelled, "Hagrid??!?! He's what?! No!" she hissed "he can't be! He's not…" But Ginny burst into silent sobs, confirming Hermione's fears. She turned away, not knowing quite how to feel. Hagrid was alive, she saw him that very morning walking into the Forest with Fang, and yet… he was dead…

"So" Ginny hiccupped, set on finishing her story now that'd she'd started, "McGonagall closed the school, not much else she could do really…and she sent me here to find you…what have you been doing Hermione?" Ginny asked, looking up at her friend.

Hermione's cheeks burned with guilt and her stomach turned uneasily. What _had _she done? Nothing. She went to a stupid slumber party, kissed Harry's bloody dead godfather, and almost kissed Lucius…Hagrid's future murderer. She could feel her own eyes starting to water and she quickly looked down, blinking furiously.

"I…I've been trying to…save people…" she trailed off uselessly, ashamed, "how did you find me here?" she asked suddenly. At this Ginny smirked.

"I met the young head master walking by the Gryffindor tower, one of his 'evening strolls' he said. He also said I could probably find you here, he didn't even ask why I was looking for you or who I was, he seemed rather preoccupied…" she trailed off and glanced towards the bed, "hey… there's someone there…" Hermione whipped around and saw the lump that was Lucius's head near the end of the bed. Ginny looked back at Hermione and noticed or the first time the weird angle at which one of her arms was positioned. Her brow furrowed in curiosity and Hermione gulped.

"Uh…it's not what it looks like, Ginny, see it's all James's fault, I never meant for this to happen but…" she retold the story of how she had become attached to Lucius, leaving out certain key parts, like her confession in the Gryffindor tower that she fancied him, and the interesting experience on the broom ride…and before going to bed… when they'd been so close to kissing. When she was done Ginny had to stuff a fist her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

"It's not funny!" Hermione said crossly.

"Of course not!" Ginny said, trying to keep a straight face, "not at all…" a silence passed and Ginny looked thoughtful. "What's he like…you know, at this age?" Hermione knew what she meant.

"He's still an arrogant jerk, but not…evil…he's not a Death Eater yet, you see…" Hermione said, looking back at the ex-Slytherin who was still sleeping peacefully. Ginny nodded and walked over to the bed.

"He's not that bad-looking either" Ginny said, turning around and grinning at Hermione. The brunette rolled her eyes but found she could not conceal a grin herself. Lucius suddenly emitted a large snort and grunted, burying his face deeper into the blanket. Ginny snickered and sat down on the floor next to Hermione.

"So…what was your plan, when you went back in time?" Ginny asked her. Hermione thought for a moment before answering.

"Actually, to tell you the truth I didn't really have a plan, I figured that it'd all just…you know, work itself out…" Hermione looked determinedly at the ground and Ginny nodded.

"Well, McGonagall gave me these instructions for the potion…" she took out a piece of paper from her pocket that had the transfiguration professor's neat handwriting scrawled across it. "It says that the potion she gave me for both of us to get back to the present needs to sit for another 20 days before we can drink it. Any sooner and it wouldn't bring us all the way to the present time, and any later it would bring us past the present and into the future…" She looked over at Hermione "So it needs to sit a day for each year we go forward in. 20 years, 20 days. We have to drink this at midnight on November 1st to be brought back to the right time" Hermione nodded and sighed.

"I guess this whole 'fix the future' plan became more of a hassle than anything…what a daft idea that was…" Hermione said with disappointment, smiling sadly.

"Well…how long exactly do you think we need to fix the future?" Ginny asked, the corner of her lips twitching upwards. Her eyes were sparkling not unlike those of their late headmaster's. Hermione looked at her in disbelief.

"You really think it could be done?" Hermione whispered. Ginny grinned broadly.

"It's worth a bloody try, isn't it? I mean, things couldn't possibly get any worse" slowly Hermione grinned too and both their eyes filled with excitement.

"We need a plan" Hermione said getting excited, "A good solid plan that we can do in 20 days-" she was interrupted by a large groan coming from the bed. Lucius was, finally, starting realize he had a guest in his room.

"What the…Grant? Is that you? What are you doing down there…" he gazed groggily down at Hermione then looked over at Ginny who was staring at him like a dear caught in the headlights. Lucius blinked several times and narrowed his eyes at her. "Who are you? And what in the name of Merlin are you doing in my bedroom?" he asked, sitting up. Ginny blushed slightly at the sight of his bare chest but otherwise appeared unfazed by the sexy sight of the young potions professor.

"My name is Gi-" Hermione elbowed her friend sharply in the ribs and gave her a warning look before answering the question for her.

"Uh, Malfoy, meet my friend from my old school, Gertrude Winsley" Ginny snorted so bad she chocked.

"_Gertrude?" _she whispered to Hermione who pretended not to hear her. Lucius raised his eyebrows at the peculiar name but otherwise did not comment.

"She…uh…has the next 20 days off…see at my old school we have this holiday called…Quidditch Spree...and it's basically a 20-day Quidditch tournament during which school is postponed so teams can practice" Hermione improvised with impressive grace.

_Wow_ Ginny thought, _how did she become such a good liar? _

"So she's visiting now, because she hates Quidditch and can't stand the holiday" at this Ginny gave Hermione a look but didn't say anything. Lucius looked from her to Ginny, his brain still foggy from sleep, before shrugging and flopping back into bed.

"Just tell her to stay away from my tooth brush" he grunted before falling back asleep. Ginny and Hermione looked at each other and simultaneously burst out laughing, struggling not to make too much noise lest Lucius wake up again.

Wiping tears from her eyes Ginny sighed and stood up, yawning grandly she transfigured her clothes into pyjamas and crawled into the bed, lying on the opposite side of Lucius. Hermione stood up and gawked at her.

"What do you think you're doing??" She demanded.

"Sleeping. I'm tired" she replied matter-of-factly.

"How do you think he's going to react when he wakes up with another person in his bed?" Hermione asked.

"You heard him, as long as I stay away from his tooth brush I'll be fine" she finished with a smirk before turning around and closing her eyes. Hermione groaned before she admitted defeat and pushed Lucius aside so that she could get into bed as well.

Morning came far too soon for Hermione, who couldn't get a wink of sleep after Ginny's surprise visit. Her mind kept going through all the different plans to save the future, none of them meeting her satisfaction. Sometimes her mind drifted off to Harry, where was he? Had Voldemort found him yet? But she quickly pushed this thought out of her mind, knowing that if he had been caught by the Dark Lord the whole world would know…but then again she wasn't exactly in the same world as Harry…

Hermione and Ginny were both woken up by Lucius's reaction when he found his face buried (unintentionally of course) in Ginny's red hair.

"Wha…who…BLOODY HELL!" he yelled when he finally realized what was covering his face. He jumped up, stumbled backwards from the jerk of the chain and promptly fell off the foot of the bed. Hermione was consequently yanked out of her sleep to the end of the bed where she glared menacingly at Lucius on the floor for waking her up. Ginny in turn sat up, laughing hysterically.

"Good morning!" she said gleefully as she slipped out of bed and bounced into the bathroom, closing the door with a resounding click. Lucius looked from Hermione to the bathroom and back at Hermione.

"Well Harriet, I must say that although waking up with several women in my bed is usually no surprise," he started, "I must admit I normally know who they are…or at least recall picking them up the night before" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"So you don't remember my friend Gertrude at all?" she asked, an idea suddenly popping into her mind.

"No…I can't say I do…" he replied, looking up at Hermione with confusion.

"Well, after what you two did together last night I am honestly surprised that you don't recall her at all. Her heart will be crushed. Not to mention that of Narcissa's as well if she ever finds out what you two did…" Hermione let her sentence trail off, taking extreme pleasure in the expression on Lucius's face.

"But…but I thought that…no, I didn't drink last night…" he paused and looked at Hermione, "right?" he added, slightly alarmed. Hermione shrugged and Lucius covered his face in his hands, groaning miserably. Suddenly a thought struck him, "Wait a minute…how do you know about Narcissa?" he asked accusingly. Hermione bit her lip.

"Uh…just a little slip of the tongue I suppose when you were…under the influence after our meeting with Dumbledore" she tried to say casually. Lucius thought back to that specific moment, one that they had not talked about since. Before either of them could say anything though Ginny flounced back into the room and grinned down at the potions professor, deciding that hating him now, before he had actually done anything, would not help their plan. Lucius looked her over.

"How old are you and what did I do with you last night?" he blurted out. Ginny raised her eyebrows and looked up at Hermione who was trying to contain her laughter. She looked back down at Lucius, deciding to play along.

"You don't remember me?" she said with a devastated expression, "but Lucy-Wucy, we had such a lovely time together!" she tried to look hurt and Hermione nearly split her sides containing her laughter. Lucius looked appalled at the nickname. He closed his eyes and desperately thought as hard as he could to remember what happened the previous night. Yes, now that he looked back he did recall meeting someone with red hair…but he remembered nothing more.

"How old are you?" he asked again.

"Sixteen" Ginny replied proudly.

"Sixteen?" Lucius said slowly and rather fearfully, "can we, for record's sake, say that I thought you were eighteen?" Ginny snorted.

"Yeah sure, why not. Let's go get something to eat!" she said cheerfully, "I want to meet everyone!" Hermione grinned too, excited to introduce her to the marauders. She sprinted to the bathroom and attempted to remove her pyjamas (Lucius leaning against the door as always to keep it from opening) but soon realized that it was physically impossible to remove a shirt with a chain connecting you to another person by the wrist. It took her a good full 20 minutes to come up with a splitting charm that tore the shirt down the sleeve so that she could remove it. Quickly muttering a _reparo _charm the sleeve sewed itself back together and she performed the same spells to her uniform to put it on.

"Are you done in there yet?" an exasperated voice called from the other side of the door.

"Yes!" Hermione called back, coming out of the bathroom in her uniform.

"What were you doing in there?" Lucius asked her, raising an eyebrow.

"I was devising a way to put on my uniform, which is surprisingly difficult with this chain" she said.

"Why didn't you just transfigure your pyjamas?" Hermione rolled her eyes at this juvenile statement.

"You can't just transfigure your clothes into a Hogwarts uniform, you have to buy it! There's no spell for it" Hermione said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. Lucius looked at Ginny who just shrugged.

They all walked down to the Great Hall, Ginny jumping up and down excitedly and Hermione and Lucius walking slightly behind her.

"Listen, Harriet, I need to talk to you…" Lucius whispered, careful not to let Ginny hear. Hermione raised an eyebrow but gave him a little nod.

"Yes?"

"What ever I did with Gertrude last night I…I'm sorry you had to be there. I didn't mean for it to happen…I…I don't even remember it, I hope you're not…" Lucius trailed off, suddenly clearing his throat and looking away. Hermione didn't know whether to laugh or to console him.

"You hope I'm not what?" she prompted him to continue. He glanced back at her, at Ginny, up and down the hall to make sure there were no other people within earshot, and then looked back down at Hermione.

"I…well, just…I hope you're not…offended" he whispered barely moving his lips. Hermione snorted and regretted it soon after when Lucius took immediate offence.

She didn't know what to say. She what shocked. Why on Earth would he say _that _to her?

_Offended? What?? _The voice inside her head asked. "What?" Hermione voiced her thoughts, believing that she truly couldn't have heard him properly.

"What?" Lucius promptly responded, pretending not to have said anything to begin with, not wanting to repeat anything. Hermione rolled her eyes but remained perplexed as they entered the Great Hall. When she heard Ginny squeal in delight she quickly put the odd conversation safely in the back of her mind before dragging the red-head to the Gryffindor table, anxious to introduce her to people.

"Oy Harriet! Who's your friend?" Sirius called out eagerly, jumping up from the table and upsetting Peter's eggs. He ran over to them and stopped short in front of Ginny who gasped in shock.

"Uh, Gertrude, this is Sirius Black…Sirius, this is my friend Gertrude Winsley, she's staying here for a few weeks" Hermione made the introductions. Sirius held out his hand and flashed a grin that would make any girl swoon.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Gertrude" he said. Ginny just stared at him, her mouth hanging open and her eyes as wide as saucers. She took in his blue eyes, his smooth black hair, his handsome young face…she felt like crying. Instead she gulped heavily and just as Sirius began to lower his hand in confusion she leapt open him and enclosed him in a rib-crushing bear hug.

_DEAR LORD!!! She shouldn't be doing that Hermione!! Stop her! Stop her NOW before she lets something slip! _Hermione's brained screamed at her. But she stood there and let her friend smother Sirius in tears, knowing how she had felt when she had first seen him. Lucius raised his eyebrows and looked at Hermione for an explanation.

"She can be very uh…emotional at times…" Hermione said desperately.

"Oh _SIRIUS!!!!_" Ginny shrieked and successfully attracted the attention of the whole Great Hall, "oh _Sirius_" she repeated, burying her face in his hair. Sirius patted her lightly on the back and shifted slightly so that he could see James. He winked at him and saw Remus roll his eyes.

"Uh, Gertrude? Gertrude!" Hermione tried to interject, pulling Ginny away from Sirius, "I think you've seen him long enough now, let's move on" she said, linking arms strongly with the red-head and pulling her further down the table. Ginny wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve and felt her ears turn red from embarrassment.

"Sorry Hermy" she whispered. Hermione smiled at her and whispered back,

"It's Harriet Grant here" she corrected her. Ginny nodded and sniffled.

"This is Lily, Zi, Linda, and Patty" Hermione said, indicating her room mates, Lily smiled kindly and Linda winked at her. "And this is Remus, James, and Peter" Hermione finished. She heard Ginny take in a sharp breath at the sight of Wormtail but was greatly relieved when she sat down without a word between Remus and Lily, deciding to ignore the rat altogether. Hermione made to sit beside her but Lucius cleared his throat.

"Yes?" she asked slightly annoyed. He looked at her, looked at the staff table, and back at her. Hermione rolled her eyes and followed him to their now usual spot at the staff table.

"How come we can never sit with _my _friends? It's not like you're Mr. Popular over here at the staff table" Hermione muttered as they sat down, "You could at least give them a chance, who knows, maybe you'll end up liking them…" Hermione trailed off.

"Harriet, the day I like those infectious diseased creatures is the day Merlin himself shows up for a game of cribbage with Snape." Lucius stated matter-of-factly, "I've come across decomposing bodies that are less offensive than they are"

"I'm sure you have" Hermione barely whispered so that Lucius couldn't hear her. They ate their breakfast in silence while Dumbledore and McGonagall seemed to be enwrapped in quite an important discussion. Hermione watched curiously as McGonagall's face turned brick red in restrained anger, suddenly they both turned to her and Hermione jumped slightly in shock.

"Miss Grant" Dumbledore said calmly while McGonagall smoothed her robes restlessly, "Professor McGonagall and I would like to have a word with you and Professor Malfoy in my office, if you wouldn't mind" Hermione stopped eating and looked at Ginny, was this about her? Was Ginny not allowed to be here? "Don't worry about your friend, she may stay here as long as she wishes, so long as she reframes from using Professor Malfoy's toothbrush, of course" he added with a little twinkle in his eyes. Hermione's heart stopped. How the hell did they know about Malfoy's toothbrush? At the mention of his name, Lucius came into the conversation.

"What is this about my toothbrush?" he asked gracefully, wiping off his mouth delicately on his napkin. Hermione smirked but said nothing before nodding towards the headmaster and standing up. "Where are we going?" Lucius demanded, but at the sight of McGonagall's furious face he quickly let the question slide and followed them out of the hall all the way to Dumbledore's office.

"Now I believe that Professor McGonagall has a question for you two" Dumbledore said serenely once they had all gathered around his desk, gazing down at them through his half-moon spectacles. McGonagall gave him a shocked dirty look that clearly spat _oh, so now you're going to make _ME _do this are you??! _He smiled at her and she heaved a sigh and looked at Lucius.

"Mr. Malfoy…Miss Grant…I'm going to ask you this once and only once, expecting the complete and entire truth" McGonagall said peering down at them. Hermione inhaled sharply in sudden worry, thinking that they had finally discovered her secret. Lucius looked at her funny and McGonagall got a somewhat satisfied look on her face.

**OH DEAR GOD!!! WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN AM I GOING TO DO NOW?? If they find out… they'll send me back… and…and… oh Merlin, THINK OF THE SHAME!!! The complete DISSAPPOINTMENT that will be on everyone's face!!! My life is over! Harry will die, Ron will never come back, I will never have been able to say good-bye to Hagrid… **

"Are you, or are you not, involved in a… sexual relationship with each other?" McGonagall finished. Now, in this case Hermione would have logically yelled no, clearly stricken and horrified by the mere idea, and would have demanded to know where this obviously deranged professor was coming from, but Hermione was instead so shocked and relieved by the question that she just stared at McGonagall, jaw on the floor. Lucius burst out in hysterical laughter that seemed to offend the transfiguration professor. He looked back and forth from Dumbledore and McGonagall, clearly not taking them seriously.

"You can't possibly… I mean… she's not… I'm not… We would never… no… come on, I'm _married!_" he said incredulously. Hermione made an undetectable jump at the new information. He gulped nervously and made the mistake of looking at the brunette who had still not recovered. "Like we would _ever_…" he trailed off, still looking at her. McGonagall raised a suspicious eyebrow.

"Well, we just wanted to make sure, Mr. Malfoy, that you are aware of the Hogwarts rules, and ministry _laws_, that forbid any type of intimate relationship between students and teachers, even with a 'student teacher'" McGonagall continued, "There have been some…_sightings _of a view things that occurred last night in the Gryffindor tower" at this Hermione finally snapped back into reality and immediately looked at Dumbledore who was gazing at the scene with a peculiar air of curiosity from his chair. Looking back at McGonagall Hermione finally spoke up.

"If I may explain that, professor" she said, "I was under a certain spell that unfortunately influenced my mind in a very negative way" Hermione said eloquently, "it will not happen again" she assured her. McGonagall looked at Dumbledore, the oh-so-silent-one and sighed.

"You are quite sure then that all this was a…misunderstanding?" she asked almost with disappointment. Hermione and Lucius nodded vigorously.

"Very well then, I apologize, but do remember the rules, Lucius…alright, you may go" she dismissed them. Hermione smiled politely and dragged Lucius quickly out of the office with her.

"Good lord!" he hissed once they had descended the spiral staircase, "they didn't actually think that I would do such a preposterous thing as that! This is ridiculous! I tell you Grant, I have half a mind to go to the ministry itself and complain; this is an insult! I'm MARRIED for Merlin's sake!" he yelled, letting out a chocked laughter, "I'm _married…_" he seemed to convince himself. Silently he looked at Hermione who promptly avoided his eye contact.

_Married, see? I told you he wasn't worth it. The little player… _

"Shit" Lucius muttered before he grabbed Hermione roughly by the elbow and threw her into the closest empty classroom.

"Malfoy what the he-" she started to protest angrily, but he slammed the door shut, grabbed the back of her head, pulled her to him and kissed her.

Deeply.

Hermione's eyes bulged in horror while his eyes closed completely. She was paralyzed, unable to think, unable to move. The kiss seemed to last forever, Lucius's fingers burned into the back of Hermione's head, and his lips made her feel a surge of emotions that she had never felt before. When finally Lucius pulled away, hands still on the back of her neck, Hermione could think of nothing to say.

"You kiss like a dead fish" he said matter-of-factly.

**YAY! Chapter 7 is DONE!!! Sorry about the evil cliffy :P don't hate me... there will be more!! send me ideas though, cuz that'll make the new chapters come faster! **

**Adios, **

**King Twig. **


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